Image display apparatus and methods may use a single imaging element such as a digital mirror device (DMD) to spatially modulate plural color channels. A color channel may include a light steering element such as a phase modulator. Steered light from a light steering element may be combined with or replaced by additional light to better display bright images. These technologies may be provided together or applied individually.

A light source apparatus includes a light source, a light collection optical system configured to collect a pencil of light emitted from the light source using multiple lenses, a microlens array formed into a size corresponding to a collected light diameter of a pencil of light collected by the light collection optical system and caused to be incident thereon from the light collection optical system, and a display device on to which light transmitted through the microlens array to be superimposed together is incident.

A light engine includes an image surface, a projected light surface, a projection lens assembly, and a plurality of folding elements. The image surface has three image areas. The projected light surface has three light sources that provide light with different wavelengths. The plurality of folding elements are arranged along a light emitting axis. The image surface and the projected light surface are substantially in parallel with the light emitting axis, and there is an air gap located between the image surface and the projected light surface. The three light sources respectively correspond to the plurality of folding elements and respectively correspond to the three image areas, and the light emitting axis and the projection lens assembly are disposed on the same optical path.

A projector generates white light from a laser light source and uses the white light for image display. The white light generator has a rectangular light generating lens that generates excitation light of a rectangular shape from the blue light of a blue laser and a phosphor wheel, coated with a phosphor that is irradiated with the excitation light, to emit yellow light. In the phosphor wheel, a length in the vertical direction of a rectangular shape of an irradiation region is represented by v, and a length in the horizontal direction is represented by h, wherein h<v; and a center of the rectangular shape is within any one of a region having an angle of 45° or more and 135° or less and a region having an angle of 225° or more and 315° or less in the phosphor coat region of the phosphor wheel.

A light source apparatus (1) according to the present disclosure includes a wavelength conversion device (10) that includes two or more wavelength conversion units (11-13) serially coupled in a first direction. The wavelength conversion device (10) has a configuration in which the two or more wavelength conversion units (11-13) generate respective converted lights having wavelengths different from each other to generate two or more converted lights. The two or more wavelength conversion units (11-13) each include a first end surface and a second end surface that are formed in a direction parallel to the first direction, and a light entering surface (43) that is formed in a second direction different from the first direction and which an excitation light for generating the converted light enters. The first end surface (41) of one wavelength conversion unit (13) positioned at one end of the wavelength conversion device (10) of the two or more wavelength conversion units (11-13) is configured to be a light extraction surface from which the two or more converted lights are extracted out of the excitation light and the two or more converted lights.

The present disclosure relates to a light source apparatus including a laser light source that outputs a laser beam and a collimator system that parallelizes the laser beam. The collimator system includes three lens groups. A first group includes a first anamorphic lens having negative power in a first direction. A second group includes a second anamorphic lens having positive power in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. A third group includes a third anamorphic lens having positive power in the first direction.

An optical system (300) includes an optical modulation element (103) to reflect an incident light (250) in a different direction, and an illumination optical system (301) through which light emitted from a light source (101) is emitted toward the optical modulation element (103). The illumination optical system (301) includes a lens array (14A, 14B), a lens (15) disposed in an order listed from an upstream side of an optical path, and a shielding part (50) disposed upstream from the lens (15) on the optical path. The shielding part (50) shields light incident on an effective diameter of the lens (15). In a direction perpendicular to an optical axis of the light emitted from the light source (101), the optical axis (101A) is shifted from a center position (15M) of the effective diameter of the lens (15) in an opposite direction with reference to the shielding part (50).

Disclosed is a light source control apparatus, which includes an image acquirer that obtains information about an image to be displayed from a light source matrix, and a controller that changes a resolution of the image based on the information about the image and controls an operation of the light source matrix such that the image having the changed resolution is displayed.

An image in a predetermined hue is displayed at a display surface, and is emitted as image light. The image light is guided to a display position by an optical system, and is deflected by a diffraction optical element. The emitted image light includes light emitted from a first position of the display surface and light emitted from a second position of the display surface. A deflection angle at which the light emitted from the first position is diffracted by the diffraction optical element is larger than a deflection angle at which the light emitted from the second position is diffracted by the diffraction optical element. Of the image light in a wavelength range expressing the hue, a wavelength peak of the light emitted from the first position is present on a long wavelength side with respect to a wavelength peak of the light emitted from the second position.

An optical system includes a light source configured to emit irradiation light, an optical modulation element having a plurality of reflection planes by which an incident light is reflected in a different direction, and an optical element having an interface through which the irradiation light emitted from the light source is emitted to the optical modulation element as the incident light and a first exit light reflected by the optical modulation element in a first direction is guided to a projection surface. Each one of the plurality of reflection planes is inclined with reference to a surface of the optical modulation element to reflect the incident light as the first exit light, and the surface of the optical modulation element is inclined with reference to the interface.