Erhard Max

Digital Light Deflectors

Several electrooptic digital light deflection techniques have been proposed. The maximum number of resolvable deflection positions for all methods is determined, essentially, by economic reasons, the tolerable amount of background light, and aberrations. In this paper, three different types of deflection methods (split angle, total internal reflection, Wollaston prism) are described. Design, construction details, and performance of three deflector models are reported. Combined deflection systems use the advantageous properties of each of these methods to economically obtain the maximum number of resolvable deflection positions. A suggested combination to achieve 1024x1024 positions arranged in a two-dimensional field would consist of one total internal reflection stage, seven stages of split angles, and two stages of Wollaston prisms for each dimension.