A New Light Valve for Television Projection

A new light valve television projection system has been designed incorporating a novel, deformable, reflective target consisting of a thin (∼2000–6000 A) metal film supported in close proximity (∼5 μ) to a glass substrate. In operation a video-modulated electron beam scans the target and deforms the metal film analogously to the intensity of the video signal. These deformations control the amount of light from the schlieren projector that falls on the screen. The mechanical and electrical performance of the deformable targets and operation of a specially designed off-axis, reflective schlieren projector are discussed. Display results for the total system are presented.