JPS5918930A - Method and device for optical modulation - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform optical modulation by a simple optical system and to form a picture of high quality with high light utilization efficiency, by superposing signal information on luminous flux which is diffused by an air bubble or luminous flux which is not diffused by said bubble. CONSTITUTION:Luminous flux 10 incident to the vapor bubble generating means BM consisting of a transparent protection plate 1, thin liquid layer 2, insulating layer 3, heat generating resistor 6c, etc., is passed through a resistor 6c which responds to a signal is reduced to scattered luminous flux 12 modulated by the signal information with a large angle of diffusion due to a vapor bubble and the luminous flux 11 which is not diffused by the vapor bubble. This luminous flux 11 is cut off by a light shielding filter 15a and scattered luminous flux 12' having small loss is made incident to a photodetecting medium 14. Consequently, the simple optical system imposed the optical modulation to form the picture of high quality with the high light efficiency. Further, the luminous flux which is not diffused by the bubble is also utilized.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a light modulation method and optical system suitable for optical recording devices, optical display devices, etc. The present invention is a low-cost and simple method that achieves high light utilization efficiency and high quality. It is what makes it possible to obtain images.

2. Description of the Related Art Recording or displaying using a luminous flux has been widely practiced. For this purpose, various techniques for modulating the luminous flux are known, but Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 56-5523 discloses a technique for changing the electric field distribution within a crystal that has an electro-optic effect, and for changing the electric field distribution in the crystal that is generated along with this electric field distribution. It has been shown that modulation is performed by diffracting a light beam incident on a portion of the structure where the refractive index changes. However, in this method, the modulated light beam is diffracted light, and when the unmodulated light beam and the diffracted light are separated and taken out, the light beam that does not undergo diffraction is The rate at which the diffracted light was eclipsed by the material used to block the bill was high, and therefore the light utilization rate was low. or,
Electro-optic crystals are expensive, and when used, the light beam incident on the crystal must have predetermined polarization characteristics. Further, when performing the above-mentioned modulation, in order to completely reflect the light beam at the electric field generation part inside the optical crystal material and improve the diffraction efficiency, there is a restriction that the light beam should be incident on the electrode as parallel as possible.

An object of the present invention is to provide a new light modulation method that improves the drawbacks of the conventional light modulation described above.

The light modulation method according to the present invention attempts to achieve the above object by using bubbles as a light modulation medium. In other words, a part of the incident light flux is scattered by the bubbles, and from a state in which the light fluxes scattered by the bubbles and the light fluxes not scattered by the bubbles are mixed, it is possible to determine whether the light flux has received the scattering or the light flux has not been scattered. One of the light beams is extracted as modulated light. Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail using the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the vapor bubble generating means used in the light modulation device of the present invention. In Figure 1, 1 is a transparent protective plate, 2 is a thin liquid layer, 3 is a thermally conductive insulating layer, and 4 is a transparent protective plate.
are 5a, 6b, 5c.

6d... is a heating resistor layer in which heating resistors are arranged; 5 is an insulating layer 3 and heating resistors 5a, 6b.

5c, 6d... are supports. When the heating resistor generates heat, this heat is transmitted through the insulating layer 3 and the liquid thin layer 2.
, which causes the thin layer of liquid to boil and form vapor bubbles. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, when the heating resistor 5)) is selected and generates heat, this heat is transferred to the insulating layer 3 adjacent to the resistor 6b.
is transmitted to the liquid AY/d 2 through the resistor 6b, causing the liquid 7 in the region of the thin liquid layer 2 facing the resistor 6b to boil, forming vapor bubbles 7 in this region. This vapor bubble 7 disappears after a predetermined period of time as the liquid in this region cools. One cycle from the formation of bubbles to the disappearance of bubbles is a very short time, and it takes 5J to complete on the order of KHt. The heat generating resistors described above are formed on the support body 5 using an I-C manufacturing technique, and the spacing between adjacent heat generating resistors is formed on the order of mμ.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing the structure of the steam bubble generating means shown in FIG. 1, and numbered 1 to 6 are the same as shown in FIG. 1. 8 is a conductive wire, and a heating resistor ((3a, 6b
,...) are connected to individual drive voltages so that they can be driven independently, while the other end of the valve heat resistor is grounded or set to a common voltage. From the conductive wire 8, the heating resistor 5a
, 5b.

When a voltage signal is applied to each of the heating resistors, vapor bubbles are generated in the thin liquid layer in the vicinity of each heating resistor. This steam bubble is
When the voltage signal is reduced to zero, it cools down, liquefies again, and disappears.

FIG. 3 (Al is a diagram showing an embodiment of a light modulation device using the vapor bubble generating means B-M, and is an example in which the luminous flux scattered by the bubbles is used as information light. A light beam 1o is incident on the bubble generating means B-M, and the heating resistor (6a,
6b,...), an arbitrary heating resistor 6c has a voltage v1.
When driven by, vapor bubbles 7 are generated, and the light beam incident on the heating resistor 6c becomes a scattered light beam 12 and exits.

The light beam 11 that is specularly reflected on the surface of the heating resistor and not scattered by the vapor bubbles 7 is imaged by the lens 13a,
The light is blocked by a light blocking filter 153 placed at the image forming position. Said scattered light, 12
is partially blocked by the light-blocking filter 151, but the size of the light-blocking filter 15g is the size of the light-blocking filter 15g. By setting the imaging spot of =-11 to the minimum size that blocks light, it is possible to irradiate most of the scattered East light 12' onto the light-receiving medium 14. In addition, the scattering angle of the luminous flux by the bubbles of the present invention is larger than the scattering angle using the electro-optic crystal described above.
Even if the light blocking filter 15+1 of the same size is used, the proportion of scattered light that is blocked is very small in the present invention.

As described above, by applying the voltage pulse (1) corresponding to the image signal to the heating element resistor 6c through the conductive wire 8 or making it zero, the vapor bubbles 70 are repeatedly generated or extinguished accordingly. In that case, a blinking light spot is generated on the light receiving medium 14. By forming a conjugate relationship between a point on the heating resistor and a point on the light-receiving medium 14 using the lens 13a, an image of a group of vapor bubbles generated near the heating resistor (5a, 6b...) is received as a spot. medium 14
Can be formed on top.

FIG. 3(B) is a diagram showing an embodiment of a light modulation device using the vapor bubble generating means BM, and is an example in which a light beam that is not scattered by bubbles is used as information light. In FIG. 3(B), the position where the light beam 11 that is not modulated by the vapor bubble generating means BM is focused by the lens 13a is as follows.
A light shielding plate 15b is provided. This light shielding plate is provided with a through hole in the center so as to allow the light beam 11 to pass therethrough and block the light beam 12 shown by the broken line which is scattered by the vapor bubble generating means BM.

As described above, most of the light scattered by the vapor bubbles is blocked by the light blocking filter 15b, and mainly only the non-scattered light 11 passes through the light blocking filter 15b. Therefore, by arranging the lens 13b that makes the image spot formed by the non-scattering lens 13a or the light-shielding filter 15b in a conjugate relationship with the light-receiving medium surface 14, the light spot blinks on the light-receiving medium surface 14. Occur.

Figure 4 shows a vapor bubble generating means B for improving the contrast of blinking light on the light-receiving medium, that is, for maximizing the light utilization efficiency.
- This is a diagram showing the state of the light flux incident on M, and FIG. 4(A) is a diagram of the vapor bubble generating means viewed from the arrangement direction of the heating resistors, and FIG. 4 is also a diagram showing the arrangement direction of the heating resistors. This is a map of the prefecture from the direction perpendicular to the . The closer the vapor bubbles are to the heating resistor, the denser they are, and the scattering efficiency is highest when the light beam 16 is concentrated there. Regarding the generation and disappearance of vapor bubbles near the heating resistor, the applied voltage pulse v
The time response to I is fast, so the blinking response of the light on the light receiving medium 14 is faithful to the input signal. Depending on the flatness or roughness of the support 5, the heating resistor ((3g, 6b...), or the surface of the insulating layer 30, the light shielding efficiency of the light shielding filter 15 may vary with respect to light flux other than the light scattered by the vapor bubbles. The light-receiving medium 14 is bad.
It is illuminated above as noise light.

This noise light is irradiated onto the light-receiving medium 14-L regardless of the human power signal voltage pulse v1 applied from the conductive wire 8, so that the contrast is reduced.

In order to eliminate these various inconveniences, it is desirable to converge the incident light beam 16 linearly near the heating resistor, as shown in FIG. 4 (Al).The incident light beam 17 is scattered in the direction of the incident light.

FIG. 5 is a layout diagram of an embodiment of a light modulation device for increasing the light utilization efficiency and improving the contrast of blinking light on the light-receiving medium 14-L, as explained in FIG. A light beam emitted from a light source 19 such as a semiconductor laser or a light emitting diode is transmitted through a spherical lens 208 and an anamorphic lens 20.
The line image forming optical system 20 constituted by
) is imaged linearly in the arrangement direction. The component of this linearly formed light flux in a plane perpendicular to the arrangement direction of the heating resistors converges on the heating resistors, but is fixed by the arrangement direction and the optical axis toward the line image forming optical system 20. The components of the light flux within the trenched plane are in the state of parallel light flux. Therefore, the light beam 17 that is not scattered by the heating resistor 011 takes a triangular prism-shaped optical path and enters the positive cylindrical lens 22a. Cylindrical lens 22a
has its generatrix in the direction in which the heating resistors are arranged, and is provided so that its focal line coincides with the position of the heating resistors. Therefore, after the light beam 17 passes through the cylindrical lens 2211, it becomes an afocal light beam, and the spherical lens 2211 becomes an afocal light beam.
2b.

The light beam 17 is then focused by a spherical lens 22b on the focal plane of this lens. At this focal plane, the light beam 1
A rectangular filter 23 having a size large enough to block 7 is provided, and therefore, the filter 23 blocks the light flux that has not been scattered by the heating resistor. on the other hand,
Of the light beams 18 scattered by the heating resistors, the cylindrical lens 22B turns only the light beam in a plane perpendicular to the arrangement direction of the heating resistors into parallel light, and furthermore, i? A linear image is formed in the vicinity of the rectangular filter 23 by the J spherical lens 22b. Therefore, a part of the scattered light flux 18 is blocked by this rectangular filter 23, but most of the light flux is not blocked by this light blocking filter, and is transmitted through the positive cylindrical lens 22a, which has a generatrix in the same direction as the cylindrical lens 22a. The light enters the lens 22C and is formed as a point image (24a, 24b) on the light receiving medium 14. The filter 23 and the light-receiving medium 14 are located in an optically conjugate focal plane of the cylindrical lens 22C, and the heating resistor and the light-receiving medium are located in an optically conjugate position with respect to the spherical lens system 22b. be. In other words, the cylindrical lenses 22a and 22C and the spherical lens system 22
Regarding the anamorphic lens system 22 composed of b,
In a plane perpendicular to the arrangement direction of the heating resistors, the heating resistors (6a, 6b, . . . ) and the light-receiving medium 14 are arranged in an optically conjugate focal plane, and the anamorphic lens system In the plane defined by the optical axis of 22 and the arrangement direction of the heating resistors, the 11q light receiving medium 14 is located on the focal line plane of the anamorphic lens system 22. In FIG. 5, only the heating resistor portion of the vapor bubble generating means BM is shown.

In the above embodiment, the heating resistor is made of a reflective member, and both the scattered light flux and the unscattered light flux are
Although the case where both light beams are reflected by the resistor is shown, FIG. 6 shows the case where both light beams pass through the vapor bubble generating means.

The structure itself of the vapor bubble generating means shown in FIG. 6 is the same as that shown in FIG.
3', 6b'...) and the insulating layer 3' are made of a transparent medium. In this case as well, significant practical effects can be obtained by using the optical system described above.

FIGS. 7(A) and 7(B) are diagrams showing another embodiment of the light quality ρijl device according to the present invention, in which, like the optical system shown in FIG. Resistor 611゜6b
A linear image is formed in the arrangement direction of , . 7th Ward Giant) is a developed view seen from the direction perpendicular to the line image. FIG. 7(B) is a side view of FIG. 7(A). The difference from the optical system shown in FIG. 5 is that the light beam emitted from the light source is condensed by a lens 20a, and as shown in FIG. 7(A), the conjugate of the light source is As shown in FIG. 7(B), an imaginary forming optical system 2 which is a composite thread of a lens 203 and an anamorphic lens 20I forms an image.
0 to form a line image near the heating resistor of the vapor bubble generating means BM. In FIG. 7 (8), by arranging a rectangular light-shielding filter 23' having long sides in a direction perpendicular to the arrangement direction of the heating resistors 5a, 5b, etc., at the conjugate image position of the light source, vapor bubbles can be The unscattered light flux is blocked, and the light flux scattered by the vapor bubble is
Passing around the light-shielding filter 23, the heating resistor (4
3g, 6b...) and the light-receiving medium 14 in a conjugate position, and the imaged spot 24g is incident on the light-receiving medium 14.

24b, . . . are formed. In this way, the configuration of the optical system as shown in FIG. 5 can be simplified.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a light modulation device for obtaining a color image according to the present invention. The light source 19g is a red light emitting diode, 19b is a green light emitting diode, 19c is a blue light emitting diode, 26 is a dichroic mirror that transmits the red wavelength band and reflects the green wavelength band, and 27 is a colored mirror that transmits light other than the evening wavelength band. It is a dichroic mirror that reflects wavelength bands, and is designed to allow the light beams from each light source to reach the heating resistors of vapor bubble generating means B and M.The rest of the optical system shown in FIG. Same as configuration. It is possible to generate a color image on a light-receiving medium using such a three-color light source and one vapor bubble generating means.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing one system of the color image generation system shown in FIG. ) shows the voltage pulse train input to Vl 1 , V2 l, -! v5
i (1==l leap) is the heating resistor (5a,
6b, ..., 6C), and +
(=1 to 3) indicates the number of the period. Figure 9 (B)
is a current signal pulse manually applied to the light emitting diode 19B, and the voltage pulse train II * ■21 + ·
... indicates that the light emitting diode 19a emits light during the period in which v5t occurs. FIG. 9(c) shows the light emitting diode 19
This is a current signal pulse inputted to b, and is a voltage pulse train v12 + (22H) written in MiJ.

This indicates that light is emitted during the period in which VH2 occurs. Figure 9 (
Similarly, D+ is a voltage pulse train v13 + "23 +
During the period in which “・+”53 occurs, the light emitting diode 19
c indicates that it emits light. Figure 9 (All (B),
In (C) and (D), the horizontal axes indicate time, and the above-mentioned signal pulses are periodically generated in a previous time period (not shown). As shown in FIG. 8, when the light-receiving medium 14 moves in the direction of the arrow, red, green, and blue spots are formed on the surface of the light-receiving medium in the direction of the arrow, that is, in the direction of movement of the light-receiving medium. Color display can be performed by forming one pixel with these three spots. In Figure 9 (A), voltage pulses are manually applied to all heating resistors at the same time interval, but if the voltage pulses are generated according to the image signal, any color image can be received. It becomes possible to generate the image on the medium 14.

As described above, in the present invention, it is not necessary to have special polarization characteristics, and light sources with different wavelengths can be used.

FIG. 10 shows an application example of the device shown in FIG. 8, in which the color image shown in FIG. 8 can be scanned with a scanning spot over the entire surface of the stationary light-receiving medium 14 using a deflector 30. This is an example in which

If a photosensitive recording material such as a steel-based film is selected as the light-receiving medium, a digital color printer can be realized. Alternatively, if a light-diffusion screen is selected as the light-receiving medium, a color display can be created. In the present invention, the extinction ratio of the signal light (light scattered by vapor bubbles) is high;
Since the scattering efficiency is high, the brightness of the imaged spot light on the light-receiving medium can be increased, making it possible to increase the brightness of the imaged spot light on the light-receiving medium.
Alternatively, a color display becomes possible. or,
Needless to say, digital printers and displays may be monochrome printers and monochrome displays with only one light source.

In the examples shown in Figures 5 to 10, scattered light by vapor bubbles was used as the signal light, but in Figure 3 (B
), it goes without saying that non-scattered light can be used as the signal light, so the explanation will be omitted.

FIG. 11 shows a further embodiment of a light modulation device according to the invention for obtaining color images.

In FIG. 11, the light source 31 is a general white light lamp such as a halogen lamp, the lens 32 is a condenser lens, 33 is a pinhole plate that limits the secondary light source image, 34 is a collimator lens, and 35 is a chromatic dispersion lens. 36 is a converging lens, and 40J40G and 40B are heating resistors that generate red, green, and blue scattered light, which are color codes, respectively. Each voltage independently corresponds to the input signal. Voltage application means 41R141G, 41B for generating pulses
It is connected to the. Here, to simplify the explanation, the details of the vapor bubble generating means are not shown in the drawings, but the structure other than the heating resistor section is the same as that shown in FIG. 2.

In the above example, the heat generating resistors 4QR and 40G are formed by the chromatic dispersion prism 35 and the lens 36.

It becomes possible to form focused images of red, green, and blue light beams on 40B, respectively, and to modulate each color signal light according to the image number.

Furthermore, in FIG. 11, instead of the lens 36, a cylindrical lens having a generatrix in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper is used,
The red, green, and blue light beams are each formed into linear images. At this time, linear beams of light corresponding to each color are formed side by side, with a little distance from each other. Therefore, by making the heating resistors 40R, 40G, and 40B into one unit and arranging a plurality of these units along the direction of the line image, a plurality of color pixel rows can be obtained.

Incidentally, the same effect can be obtained by using a diffraction grating instead of the prism as the light beam dispersion means in FIG. 11.

FIG. 12 shows a further embodiment of the light modulation device of the present invention, and is a diagram showing that in the present invention, there is no restriction on the direction of the light beam incident on the vapor bubble generating means. A) is a view seen from the arrangement direction of the heating resistors, and FIG. 12 (B)
is a view of FIG. 12(A) viewed from above. The constituent members are the same as the light modulation device shown in FIG. 5, but in the optical system shown in FIG. 5, the light flux is incident on the vapor bubble generating means from the light beam generating means composed of the light source 19 and the line image forming optical system 2o. Whereas the central ray of the light beam is incident on the heating resistor layer 4 at an angle, in the optical system shown in FIG. incident parallel to 4. The light flux that has passed through the vapor bubble generating means is
As in the case shown in the figure, the non-scattered light beam is blocked and the scattered light beam reaches the surface of the light-receiving medium.

13 and 14 respectively show other modified embodiments of the vapor bubble generating means shown in FIG. 1, in which heating resistors (6B, 6b, . . . ) By providing grooves 1a corresponding to the arrangement of the heat generating resistors, vapor bubbles generated by a certain heat generating resistor are made to stay in the vicinity of the heat generating resistor. By doing so, it is possible to form an image with good contrast on the surface of the light-receiving medium without causing the vapor bubbles generated in each heating resistor to interfere with each other. In this case, by selecting a material whose refractive index is close to that of the material of the transparent protective plate 1 and the refractive index of the liquid in the thin liquid layer 2, scattering of light due to the grooves 18 of the transparent protective plate can be prevented. It is.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing that the heating resistor layer 4 has a spherical or cylindrical surface.

With this configuration, it is possible to converge the light flux that is not scattered by the vapor bubbles after being reflected by the heating resistor, and a light shielding member is provided at the imaging position. By using such a vapor bubble generating means, it is possible to omit the lens 13a shown in FIG. 3.

Note that the cross-sections of the steam bubble generating means shown in FIGS. 13 and 14 are viewed from the same direction as the cross-sectional view shown in FIG. 4(B), and the light flux incident on the means is The light enters at an angle starting from the front.

Figure 15 shows a steam bubble generating means that makes it possible to generate steam bubbles in a matrix. Figure 15 (A) is a side view of the steam bubble generating means, and Figure 15 (B) is a side view of the steam bubble generating means. This figure shows the arrangement of the heating resistor layers when the bubble generating means is viewed from the front, that is, when FIG. 15(A) is viewed from the A1 direction. In FIG. 15(A), transparent protection plate 11 liquid thin layer 2
The support 5 is the same as the steam bubble generating means shown in FIG. 3a and 3b are thermally conductive insulating layers, and 42 and 43 are heating resistor layers each having a plurality of linear heating resistors arranged in parallel at the same interval. As shown, the resistors of the heating resistor layer 42 (428 to 42/'
) and the resistors (43a to 43k) of the heating resistor layer 43 are provided so as to form an angle α. The vapor bubble generating means shown in FIG. 15 is designed so that when a voltage is applied to any of the intersecting heating resistors, vapor bubbles are generated in the intersecting region. For example, now, 42d and 43C
When a pressure of 43eK1g is applied, vapor bubbles are generated in the blackened intersection regions p,..., p2. Therefore, if you want to obtain a two-dimensional vapor bubble pattern, first, for example, the heating resistors 42a to 42/? Apply voltage only to 423 of 42a, select a desired heating resistor from among the heating resistors that intersect with 42a, apply voltage, then apply voltage only to 42b, and cross the same <42b. A desired heating resistor is selected from among the heating resistors and a voltage is applied thereto. This kind of movement is 42a~42/! A two-dimensional pattern can be obtained by following these steps.

FIG. 16 shows an embodiment of a light modulation device using the vapor bubble generating means shown in FIG. 15. A vapor bubble generating means 45 capable of generating vapor bubbles in a two-dimensional pattern is irradiated with a light beam from a light beam generating means 44 consisting of a light source 448 and a collimator lens 44h. The light flux that is not scattered by the vapor bubbles is collected by a lens 46 and blocked by a light blocking filter 47 provided at the focal plane of the lens 46. Since the light beam scattering position of the vapor bubble generating means 45 is arranged to almost coincide with the other focal plane of the lens 46, the light beam scattered by the vapor bubble generating means 45 becomes a substantially parallel light beam at the lens 46, and the light beam is scattered by the lens 46. 49 onto the photosensitive medium surface 50 to form a two-dimensional image corresponding to the vapor bubble generation pattern. By disposing a deflection mirror 48 between the lens 46 and the lens 49 so as to be able to deflect the scattered light beam, the above two-dimensional scanned image can be obtained on the photoreceptor surface 50. For example, if the two-dimensional vapor bubble generating means described above is designed so that various character patterns can be formed by vapor bubbles, it can be realized as a printer-terminal device such as a word processor. It is desirable that the deflection mirror be rotated intermittently so that the vapor bubble generating means 45 does not simultaneously generate bubbles on the entire surface.

It goes without saying that a transmitted light type vapor bubble generating means as shown in FIG. 6 can also be obtained as a vapor bubble generating means capable of forming a two-dimensional pattern.

In the above embodiment, an example was described in which vapor bubbles are formed using a heating resistor, but vapor bubbles can also be obtained by scanning a light beam and converting the scanned beam into heat. It is possible. FIG. 17 shows an embodiment of forming bubbles by scanning a light beam.
M is formed of a transparent protective plate 51, a thin liquid layer 52, a thermally conductive insulating layer 53, and a transparent support 54, and the support 54 is provided with a heat absorption layer 55. Reference numeral 56 denotes a self-modulating semiconductor laser, and the light beam from the laser 56 is turned into a parallel beam by a collimator lens 57, and is imaged onto the heat absorption layer 55 by a scanning condensing lens 59 via a galvanometer mirror 58. This heat absorption layer 55 is made of a material that particularly absorbs the light beam of the wavelength from the semiconductor laser 56, and therefore the light flux passing through the absorption layer 55 is approximately zero. When the galvanometer mirror 58 is rotated around the rotation axis, the light beam spot is focused on the absorption layer 55.
The scanning optical system is set to move in the direction of arrow A2 along. Then, in the region of the absorption layer 55 where the beam spot by the semiconductor laser 56 is formed, the light beam is converted into heat, and vapor bubbles are formed in the thin liquid layer via the insulating layer 53.

Therefore, the beam emitted from the semiconductor laser is
By turning on and off with the rotation of 58, steam bubbles can be formed at a desired position. The optical system for projecting the light beam scattered by the vapor bubbles and guiding the scattered light to the light-receiving medium uses all of the reflective type optical systems described above, including the optical system shown in Figure 5. It goes without saying that it is possible, so I will not explain it here.

Further, by providing the heat absorption layer 55 on the entire surface and using a two-dimensional scanning optical system as a scanning optical system for irradiating the light beam onto the absorption layer, vapor bubbles having a two-dimensional pattern as shown in FIG. 15 can be generated. You can get the means.

As described below, in the modulation optical system according to the present invention, compared to the conventional modulation device, (1) the divergence angle of the light beam scattered by the bubbles can be set to be relatively large, so that the scattered light is When separating the non-scattered light and the non-scattered light, the separation can be performed efficiently, so the efficiency of using the luminous flux is high, and the S//'N ratio is also high.

(2) In the case of scattering by bubbles, constant scattering characteristics are obtained regardless of the angle of incidence of the light beam incident on the bubbles, so there are no restrictions on the arrangement of the optical system.

(3) When using an electro-optic crystal, one light modulation can be achieved with two electrodes, whereas when scattering by bubbles is used as in the present invention, one light modulation can be achieved with one electrode. Therefore, it is possible to perform high-density modulation within a unit area, and it is possible to achieve high quality during display or recording.

(4) When the light beam is scattered by bubbles, there is no need to particularly polarize the incident light beam, and the same effect can be obtained even by using a general light source other than a laser, so the device can be formed at a low cost.

(5) The heating resistor for generating air bubbles can be easily formed using the I-C pattern manufacturing method, and a high-density arrangement of 100 or more resistors corresponding to 1" is easily possible. It becomes possible to improve the quality of images. Furthermore, by using the I-C pattern manufacturing method, it is possible to arrange 100 to 10,000 heating resistors on the micron order, and it is easy to arrange the heating resistors in the number of dots required for scanning one line. Therefore, one line can be scanned at the same time, making it possible to speed up image recording and image display7.
It has excellent effects such as .

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 and 2 are views showing one embodiment of the vapor bubble generating means used in the device according to the present invention, and FIGS. 3(A) and 3(B) are views showing one embodiment of the light modulation device according to the present invention, respectively. 4A and 4B are diagrams showing a preferred embodiment of illuminating the vapor bubble generating means in the present invention, and FIG. 5 is another embodiment of the light modulation device according to the present invention. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the vapor bubble generating means used in the device according to the present invention, and FIGS. 8 and 9 are diagrams showing an embodiment of the color image forming light modulation device according to the present invention,
FIGS. 10 and 11 are diagrams showing other embodiments of the color image forming light modulation device according to the present invention, and FIGS.
) is a diagram showing another embodiment of the optical modulation device according to the present invention, and FIGS. 13, 14, and 15 (A) and (B) are respectively,
A diagram showing an embodiment of the steam bubble generating means used in the apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 16 is a light modulation device according to the present invention formed using the steam bubble generating means shown in FIGS. FIG. 17 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the optical modulation device according to the present invention. 1...Transparent protective plate 2...Liquid thin layer 3...Insulating layer 4...Heating resistor layer 5...Supports 6a+6b, 6c, 6d,...Heating resistor B, M...
Steam bubble generation means 7... Steam bubbles 11... Non-scattered light flux
12...Scattered light flux 14...Light receiving medium 15.
l ・Light-shielding filter ← Color focus (i) 6c bb 6α No. 752 (A) 750 (B) 111-J

Claims (1)

[Claims] (]) A process of generating a bubble in response to an input signal, a process of scattering a part of the incident light flux by the bubble, a light flux scattered by the bubble and a light flux not scattered by the bubble. A light modulation method comprising the step of selecting and extracting one of the light beams from a mixed state. (2) The light modulation method according to claim 1, wherein signal information is added to the light beam scattered by the bubbles. (3) The light modulation method according to claim 1, wherein the information of the signal No. 3 is placed on the light beam that is not scattered by the bubbles. (4) A means for generating bubbles in response to an input signal, a means for making a light beam incident on the bubble generating means, and a state in which a light beam scattered by the bubble generating means and a light beam not scattered are mixed. A light modulation device characterized by comprising means for extracting a luminous flux. (5) The air distribution bubble generating means has a thin liquid layer and one or more heat generating resistors connected to a human power signal applying means as minimum components, and a predetermined voltage is applied to the heating by the input signal applying means. 5. A light modulating device according to claim 4, wherein vapor bubbles are generated in the thin liquid layer by applying a voltage to a resistor. (6) The light modulation device according to claim 4, wherein the bubble generating means includes a thin liquid layer, a heat absorption layer, and a scanning means for scanning the heat absorption layer with a beam spot.