52.4: New, High Performance, Durable Polarizers for Projection Displays

Wire-grid polarizers are now available for broadband visible applications. This type of polarizer is very attractive for projection display applications because of its high efficiency, high contrast, and extreme temperature and flux tolerance. However, using wire-grid polarizers as drop-in replacements in existing architectures, significantly limits the possible applications of this new polarizer type. As with conventional polarizers, wire-grid polarizers come in a sheet format, but they reflect one polarization rather than absorb it. Therefore, care must be taken in the system design to control this reflected light. Other significant design issues will also be highlighted in this paper. Applied Digital Optics, Inc. and MOXTEK will discuss design issues concerning the use of ProFlux™ wire-grid polarizers in the illumination stages for projection, as well as other suitable applications. Conceptual designs will be presented.