laser projection
TRANSCRIPT
Laser Illumination Systemsfor
2D and 3D Digital CinemaBill Beck
Co‐founder | EVP Business DevelopmentLaser Light Engines, Inc.Salem, New Hampshire
What is a laser?A device or system that converts electricity to visible light with three desirable attributes:
1. Ultra‐high spatial BRIGHTNESS2. Very LONG LIFETIME at full power3. High EFFICIENCY electrical‐to‐RGB lumen conversion
Why use lasers for D‐Cinema?• Studios want BRIGHT 3D• Exhibitors want to SAVE MONEY• Creatives want BETTER IMAGE QUALITY• OEMs want the NEXT BIG PRODUCT• Architects want to go BOOTHLESS
How does a laser light source differ from a Xenon lamp?
Attribute UoM Laser XenonE to O Conversion Stimulated emission
very high spatial brightnessHigh pressure ‐ gas discharge short arc creates bright “spot”
Output pattern Collimated to moderately divergent
Isotropic = all directionsmust be focused to small spot
Étendue mm2 ‐ SR Very small ‐ 0.001‐1 High relative to laser 4‐20
Spectral bandwidth nm “Narrow” ‐ 0.01‐2 “Wide” ‐ 40‐80/primary
Lifetime Hours to end of life
5,000‐100,000 to 80% output25,000 ‐50,000 target
200‐2000 to 50% output500‐1000 typical
Efficiency lm/wp‐watt 5‐10 2‐6
RGB Laser Hierarchy• Device – individual (single) emitter 200mW – 3W• Array or bar – multiple emitters per device 3 ‐ 10 W• Module 10 – 50 W
– Aggregation – multiple devices or arrays 10 ‐ 40 W– Beamline – single, high power beam 20 ‐ 50 W
• Engine – combination of R+G+B modules 50 ‐ 100 W• System – one or more engines per projector 50 – 600+ W
Candidate Projection LasersLaser Type Color Center
λSpectral BW
Power/device étendue Device
efficiency Life
Unit of measure RGB nm nm W optical mm2 ‐ sr E to O % khrs
Diode(1 emitter)
RB
635‐645445‐465
0.2‐20.5‐2
1‐21‐3 small 10 ‐ 25
10 ‐ 305 ‐ 1010 ‐ 25
Diode array(or bar) R 635‐654 2‐3 3‐5 small 15‐23 7‐10
Doubled Diode or array
GB
531‐535460‐464 0.1‐0.2 3‐6 0.001 5‐6 20‐38
Diode‐Pumped Solid‐State (frequency doubled or tunable)
RGB
607‐642515‐555445‐460
0.2 ‐ 100.1 ‐ 100.1 ‐ 6
10‐2020‐12010
0.0001‐ 0.01
5‐88‐153‐5
20 – 5020 – 5020 ‐ 50
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Lumens vs. laser watts
*
615 nm, 301 lm/W
640 nm, 120 lm/W
544 nm, 666 lm/W532 nm, 603 lm/W
462 nm, 45 lm/W446 nm, 21 lm/W
Critical Requirements
• First, do no harm – despeckle the image• Full brightness 3D • Better image quality• Reduced Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)• New Builds and Retrofit
First, do no harm !
• Speckle contrast equivalent to Xenon• All Projectors• All Screens• All content• All 3D systems
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What is speckle?You know it when you see it…
• Interference pattern artifact that occurs when a coherent, narrow band light source is used to illuminate projector chips
• Figure of merit is “Speckle Contrast Ratio”
SCR% = Std deviation of pixel intensity ÷mean pixel intensity• Measureable; level of offensiveness is subjective
Observer, content, position, screen type visual acuity, all play a role
• GREEN is most difficult to acceptably despeckle ‐ human vision has highest sensitivity, acuity at GREEN wavelengths
• RED speckle can also be offensive in certain content
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How to despeckle?
• Increase illumination angleand…
• Scramble polarization and…
• Spectrally broaden the laser output (a lot)THIS IS THE KEY TO A FULLY DESPECKLED LASER LIGHT SOURCE
Full Brightness 3D• Constant >11 fL to meet DCI … or more? • 2‐3 times current brightness … pre‐3D cut• Acceptable speckle reduction on silver or
white, high gain screens • For all types of content
• In future, 3D should be designed in
Image Quality Improvement• Higher Contrast Ratio ‐ blacker blacks; whiter whites
– Lower étendue system; higher f# launch– Laser sync
• Greater bit depth• Better brightness uniformity• Wider Color Gamut (WCG)
Lower TCO Drivers• Laser lifetimes of 25-50,000 hours• Eliminate lamp cost• Eliminate lamp change cost• 30-50% lower direct power
consumption• Reduced HVAC make up air out
the vent stack
New Build or Retrofit? Both!• Lasers will enable more efficient, higher performance next generation projectors– Direct to chip RGB – no splitting prism– Lower étendue optical system – Smaller chips – Smaller, simpler projection lenses
• Fiber delivery enables universal laser engine retrofit
Slides to be added here to explain technology demo and clips
Remaining Challenges• Standards for Speckle level and measurement
– Test conditions, procedures and acceptance levels
• Rationalize regulatory environment (LIPA)• Commercialization• Manufacturing scale‐up and cost reduction
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Summary and Conclusions The technology is in hand to meet or exceed all the current
requirements for Laser Digital Cinema
Laser has been adapted to all types of D‐Cinema projectors
Laser works for bright 3D, HFR and WCG
We need to gather stakeholder inputs and move this promising capability forward
THANK [email protected] +1 617.290.3861