Muhammad Nadeem Akram

Speckle reduction in laser projection using a dynamic deformable mirror

Despite of much effort and significant progress in recent years, speckle removal is still a challenge for laser projection technology. In this paper, speckle reduction by dynamic deformable mirror was investigated. Time varying independent speckle patterns were generated due to the angle diversity introduced by the dynamic mirror, and these speckle patterns were averaged out by the camera or human eyes, thus reducing speckle contrast in the final image. The speckle reduction by the wavelength diversity of the lasers was also studied. Both broadband lasers and narrowband laser were used for experiment. It is experimentally shown that speckle suppression can be attained by the widening of the spectrum of the lasers. Lower speckle contrast reduction was attained by the wavelength diversity for narrowband laser compared to the broadband lasers. This method of speckle reduction is suitable in laser projectors for wide screen applications where high power laser illumination is needed.

A new higher order finite-difference approximation scheme for the method of lines

A new 5-point and a 7-point nonuniform mesh finite-difference scheme is introduced to approximate the second-derivative operator. The scheme is applied using the method of lines. The necessary interface conditions for the TE and TM fields at an index discontinuity are appropriately included in the derivation. This scheme can model lossy dielectrics as well as metallic layers in a unified way. Numerical results are given for the fundamental TE and TM modes of a high-contrast waveguide and for a metal/dielectric single interface TM surface-plasmon mode showing excellent convergence behavior to the analytical results.

Compound Speckle Characterization Method and Reduction by Optical Design

Speckle and the compound speckle can be reduced by angle diversity. In laser projection displays, simple, low cost and efficient speckle reduction techniques require smart optical design . Using a MEMS scanner together with a condenser lens, laser beams with different illumination angles are obtained on the diffuser surface with low speckle contrast ratio (CR). After homogenizing within a rod integrator, the speckle field illuminates a display panel, and is projected onto the screen which forms the compound speckle. Characterization method to evaluate the compound speckle reduction efficiency is analyzed and discussed in a simplified optical system. The preliminary speckle reduction is demonstrated in a commercial projector where a 600 mW green laser has been used as the illumination source, and the compound speckle CR is brought down from 0.38 to 0.14.

Speckle suppression in projection displays by using a motionless changing diffuser.

Speckle suppression in projection displays with a laser light source can be achieved by imaging a changing diffuser with random phase cells onto the screen. Theoretical expressions for the speckle contrast in this method have been earlier obtained in the case when different realizations of the phase diffuser produced statistically independent patterns of the light field on the screen. In the present paper, these expressions are generalized in the case when different realizations of the phase diffuser produce partly correlated speckle patterns. The possible structure of a motionless changing diffuser is presented. It includes a dynamic diffractive optical element (DDOE) and a light homogenizer. The DDOE can be based on the electrically controlled spatial light modulator (SLM) with a deformable polymer layer. This type of SLM can handle high light power and, therefore, can be used in projection displays with powerful laser beams.

Replacing Two-Dimensional Binary Phase Matrix by a Pair of One-Dimensional Dynamic Phase Matrices for Laser Speckle Reduction

In this paper, a method is proposed to create a pair of one dimensional binary phase modulator matrices 1D-BPMs, which is mathematically equivalent to a single two-dimensional binary phase modulator matrix 2D-BPM based on Sylvester constructed Hadamard matrices. An advantage of 1D-BPM over 2D-BPM is that the number of drive electrodes can be reduced from N2 to 2N for a N×N Hadamard phase matrix, thus simplifying the drive interconnects and drive electronics. 1D-BPM can be based on electro-optical material and hence can be driven electrically, which is an advantage over the 2D-BPM which is usually etched on a glass substrate and actuated mechanically to implement the speckle reduction in laser projectors. We have discussed the algorithm for constructing the pair of dynamic 1D-BPMs to replace the 2D-BPM. Preliminary experiments are performed to demonstrate the validity of our concept.

Speckle reduction using orthogonal arrays in laser projectors.

We propose using a two-level (-1 and +1 as variables) orthogonal array (OA) to generate a binary phase diffuser for speckle reduction in laser projection displays. Compared with the Hadamard matrix, the diffuser generated from OA is more flexible. The speckle contrast ratio (CR) when introducing the binary phase diffuser at an intermediate image plane within the projector is calculated, and the minimum speckle CR can be achieved by finite step change of the diffuser patterns. With Kronecker algebra, the two-dimensional diffuser can also be replaced by two one-dimensional diffusers with the same function, and it can be implemented into the laser projector electronically and easily.

Speckle reduction in laser projection displays through angle and wavelength diversity.

Speckle is the main obstacle for the use of laser light sources in projection technology. This paper focuses on speckle suppression by the reduction of temporal coherence which is provided by the broadband laser light. The investigation of the effect of laser spectrum width and multiple lasers on speckle contrast is discussed. A broader spectrum width of the laser light is attained by the use of multiple semiconductor laser diodes of the broad area type. Measurements of speckle contrast with and without angle diversity are performed for two and four laser diodes. The measurement of speckle contrast for a single laser diode is also presented for comparison. The experimental results show that multiple laser diodes provide lower speckle contrast as compared to a single laser diode. In addition, it is also shown in this paper that the wavelength distribution of independent laser diodes has an effect on speckle contrast. Two different types of blue laser diodes, Nichia NUB802T and Nichia NUB801E, which have slightly different central wavelengths, were used for the measurements. Four laser diodes with a combination of two types of laser diodes offer better speckle contrast reduction than four laser diodes of the same type due to an effective broader spectrum. Additional speckle contrast reduction is achieved through the angle diversity by using a dynamic deformable mirror.

Design of a dual field-of-view optical system for infrared focal-plane arrays

In this paper, the design of a dual field-of-view optical system for 3-5 μm infra-red focal-plane arrays is described. Preliminary calculations are done to determine the first-order parameters of the narrow and the wide-field modes. To achieve a switchable dual field-of-view system, two different optical configurations, one based on the axial motion of a lens group and the other based on a roate-in motion of two separated lens groups, are studied and compared. Diffractive and conic surfaces are used to control the color and the monochromatic aberrations with less number of total lenses used. Paraxial and real-ray modelling of the Narcissus effect is described. It is shown that the rotate-in scheme achieves better optical performance in both the narrow and the wide-fifeld modes. The axial-motion scheme suffers from poor lateral color in the wide-angle mode. The final optical designs along with the aberrations curves and MTF plots are presented showing excellent performance.

Step-zoom dual-field-of-view infrared telescope.

The design of a dual-field-of-view telescope for an 8–12-µm imaging waveband is described. Preliminary calculations are made to determine the first-order parameters of the narrow- and the wide-field modes. To achieve a switchable dual-field-of-view system, one uses an optical configuration based on the axial motion of a single lens group along the optical axis. The same lens is also used for focusing at near objects and for athermalization by small axial movement. A total of six lenses with one conic surface are used in the design, making the telescope cost effective and lightweight. The final optical design is presented, along with the aberrations curves and modulation transfer function plots, showing excellent performance in both fields of view.

Analysis of deep waveguide gratings: an efficient cascading and doubling algorithm in the method of lines framework

In this work, a computationally fast, numerically stable, and memory-efficient cascading and doubling algorithm is proposed within the method of lines framework to model long planar waveguide gratings having thousands of periods in the propagation direction. This algorithm can model 2/sup n/ grating periods in n calculational steps and needs N/sup 2/ matrices for N sample points in the problem space. It can model periodic, quasi-periodic, symmetric, and asymmetric gratings efficiently. Different deep waveguide gratings are modeled using this scheme and results for the fundamental TE mode spectral reflectivity are compared with published results showing excellent agreement.