Claims
- 1. A system for projecting coherent light into a three-dimensional volume comprising:
- (a) a light source producing coherent light beams;
- (b) a modulator for controlling the intensity of said light beams;
- (c) an expander for increasing the diameters of said light beams;
- (d) a scanner for transmitting said light beams from said expander under control of signals applied to said scanner;
- (e) a projector for converging the waists of said light beams transmitted from said scanner and for subsequently diverging said refracted light beams relative to each other while maintaining said converged waists; and
- (f) a collimator for abating the divergence of said light beams and directing said light beams to a display region after abating the divergence of said light beams.
- 2. The device of claim 1 where said coherent light beam is a visible light laser.
- 3. The device of claim 1 where said beam expander comprises a negative element lens and a positive element lens.
- 4. The device of claim 1 where said scanner is an acousto-optic scanner.
- 5. The device of claim 1 where said projector comprises:
- a positive power element lens;
- and a negative power element lens.
- 6. The device of claim 1 where said collimator is a curved mirrored surface.
- 7. The device of claim 1 where said collimator is a refractive lens.
- 8. The device of claim 1 where said collimator is a Fresnel optic.
- 9. The device of claim 1 where said collimator is a holographic optic.
- 10. A system for projecting a plurality of coherent light sources into a three-dimensional volume comprising:
- (a) a plurality of light sources, each of said light sources producing coherent light beams;
- (b) a plurality of modulators, each of said modulators controlling the intensity of said light beams from a different one of said light sources;
- (c) a plurality of expanders, each of said expanders increasing the diameters of said light beams from a different one of said light sources;
- (d) a plurality of scanners, each of said scanner refracting said light beams from a different one of said light sources under control of applied signals;
- (e) a projector for converging the waists of said refracted light beams, for combining said light beams and for subsequently diverging said combined beams relative to each other while maintaining the waists of said combined beams; and
- (f) a collimator for abating the divergence of said combined beams.
- 11. The device of claim 10 where said coherent light sources are visible light lasers.
- 12. The device of claim 10 where said beam expanders each comprise:
- a negative element lens;
- and a positive element lens.
- 13. The device of claim 10 where said scanners are acousto-optic scanners.
- 14. The device of claim 10 where said projector comprises:
- a plurality of positive power element lenses for each of said light beams;
- a plurality of beam splitters to combine the beams into a single beam;
- and a single negative power element lens to diverge the combined beam.
- 15. The device of claim 14 where said beam splitters are dichroic beam splitters.
- 16. The device of claim 14 further comprising a plurality of mirrors to direct the individual beams towards the axis of the combined beam.
- 17. The device of claim 10 where said collimator is a curved mirrored surface.
- 18. The device of claim 10 where said collimator is a refractive lens.
- 19. The device of claim 10 where said collimator is a Fresnel optic.
- 20. The device of claim 10 where said collimator is a holographic optic.
- 21. A system for projecting coherent light into a three-dimensional volume comprising:
- (a) an input for accepting coherent light beams;
- (b) a projector for converging the waists of said light beams and subsequently diverging said light beams while maintaining said converged waists;
- (c) means for abating the divergence of each of said light beams at substantially the same distance from said projector; and
- (d) a three dimensional display region for receiving the divergence abated light beam.
- 22. The device of claim 21 further comprising a modulator for controlling the intensity of said light beams.
- 23. The device of claim 21 further comprising a scanner under control of applied signals for transmitting said light beams.
- 24. The device of claim 23 where said scanner is an acousto-optic scanner.
- 25. The device of claim 21 where said light beams are provided by a visible light laser.
- 26. The device of claim 21 where said projector comprises:
- a positive element lens; and
- a negative element lens.
- 27. The device of claim 21 further comprising a collimator for abating the divergence of said beam after projection.
- 28. The device of claim 27 where said collimator is a curved mirrored surface.
- 29. The device of claim 27 where said collimator is a refractive lens.
- 30. The device of claim 27 where said collimator is a Fresnel optic.
- 31. The device of claim 27 where said collimator is a holographic optic.
Parent Case Info
This application is a division of application Ser. No. 07/850,191, filed Mar. 11, 1992, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,231,538, which is a division of Ser. No. 07/742,563, filed Aug. 7, 1991, now U.S. Pat No. 5,220,452, which is a continuation of Ser. No. 07/563,370, filed Aug. 6, 1990, now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (3)
Non-Patent Literature Citations (1)
Entry |
L. C. Foster et al, "A High-Resolution . . . ", App. Opt., vol. 9, No. 9, Sep. 1970; pp. 2154-2160. |
Divisions (2)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
850191 |
Mar 1992 |
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Parent |
742563 |
Aug 1991 |
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Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
563370 |
Aug 1990 |
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