Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G02—OPTICS
  • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
  • G02B13/00—Optical objectives specially designed for the purposes specified below
  • G02B13/18—Optical objectives specially designed for the purposes specified below with lenses having one or more non-spherical faces, e.g. for reducing geometrical aberration
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G02—OPTICS
  • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
  • G02B13/00—Optical objectives specially designed for the purposes specified below
  • G02B13/04—Reversed telephoto objectives

Definitions

• This invention relates to projection lenses and, in particular, to projection lenses for use in forming a large image of a small reflective object composed of pixels, such as, a reflective liquid crystal display (LCD), a digital mirror device (DMD), or the like.
• LCD reflective liquid crystal display
• DMD digital mirror device
• Projection lens systems are used to form an image of an object on a viewing screen. Such systems can be of the front projection or rear projection type, depending on whether the viewer and the object are on the same side of the screen (front projection) or on opposite sides of the screen (rear projection).
• the projection lenses of the present invention are specifically tailored for use in very compact front projectors, where the projected image emerges from the projector and is sent onto an external wall or screen.
• the illumination for such front projectors is preferably fed in from the side near the object end (short conjugate end) of the projection lens.
• the pixelized panel is also offset in order to provide the appropriate illumination geometry and to allow the dark-field light to miss the entrance pupil of the lens. This dark-field light corresponds to the off position of the pixels of the DMD.
• FIG. 5 The basic structure of such a system is shown in Figure 5, where 10 is a light source (e.g., a metal halide or a high pressure mercury vapor lamp), 12 is illumination optics which forms an image of the light source (the "output" of the illumination system), 14 is the object which is to be projected (e.g., a Texas Instruments DMD of on and off pixels), and 13 is a projection lens, composed of multiple lens elements, which forms an enlarged image of object 14 on a viewing screen (not shown).
• the illumination optics can include multiple lens elements 15, 16, 17, a light tunnel 18 (e.g., a light tunnel constructed in accordance with commonly-assigned U.S. Patent No.
• the optical axis 20 of the illumination system intersects the optical axis 22 of projection lens 13 at an acute angle.
• Projection lens systems in which the object is a pixelized panel are used in a variety of applications. Such systems preferably employ a single projection lens which forms an image of either a single panel which is used to produce red, green, and blue images or of three panels, one for red light, a second for green light, and a third for blue light. In either case, projection lenses used with such systems generally need to have a relatively long back focal length to accommodate the auxiliary optical systems, such as color wheels, beam splitters, etc., normally used with pixelized panels.
• auxiliary optical systems such as color wheels, beam splitters, etc.
• a particularly important application of projection lens systems employing pixelized panels is in the area of micro displays, e.g., front projection systems which are used to display data. Recent breakthroughs in manufacturing technology has led to a rise in popularity of microdisplays employing digital light valve devices such as DMDs, reflective LCDs, and the like.
• Projection displays based on these devices offer advantages of small size and light weight.
• a whole new class of ultra portable lightweight projectors operating in front-projection mode and employing digital light valves has appeared on the market.
• these devices To display images having a high information content, these devices must have a large number of pixels. Since the devices themselves are small, the individual pixels are small, a typical pixel size ranging from 14-17 ⁇ for DMD displays to approximately 8 ⁇ or even less for reflective LCDs. This means that the projection lenses used in these systems must have a very high level of correction of aberrations. Of particular importance is the correction of chromatic aberrations and distortion.
• a high level of chromatic aberration correction is important because color aberrations can be easily seen in the image of a pixelized panel as a smudging of a pixel or, in extreme cases, the complete dropping of a pixel from the image. These problems are typically most severe at the edges of the field.
• a small amount of (residual) lateral color can be compensated for electronically by, for example, reducing the size of the image produced on the face of the red CRT relative to that produced on the blue CRT.
• CRTs cathode ray tubes
• a higher level of lateral color correction, including correction of secondary lateral color is thus needed from the projection lens.
• the use of a pixelized panel to display data leads to stringent requirements regarding the correction of distortion. This is so because good image quality is required even at the extreme points of the field of view of the lens when viewing data.
• an undistorted image of a displayed number or letter is just as important at the edge of the field as it is at the center.
• projection lenses are often used with offset panels.
• the distortion at the viewing screen does not vary symmetrically about a horizontal line through the center of the screen but can increase monotonically from, for example, the bottom to the top of the screen. This effect makes even a small amount of distortion readily visible to the viewer.
• Low distortion and a high level of color correction are particularly important when an enlarged image of a WINDOWS type computer interface is projected onto a viewing screen.
• Such interfaces with their parallel lines, bordered command and dialog boxes, and complex coloration are in essence test patterns for distortion and color. Users readily perceive and object to even minor levels of distortion or color aberration in the images of such interfaces.
• microdisplays and, in particular, microdisplays employing DMDs typically require that the light beam from the illumination system is fed in from the side near the short conjugate side of the projection lens (see the discussion of Figure 5 above).
• Such a location for the aperture stop exacerbates the optical design problem.
• the nearly external entrance pupil means that there is almost no internal lens symmetry for facilitating the correction of "odd" optical aberrations such as lateral color and coma.
• a short focal length e.g., a focal length of around 30 millimeters
• a long back focal length e.g., a back focal length which is at least as long as the lens' focal length
• a wide field of view in the direction of the lens* long conjugate e.g., a field of view of at least 50°
• an aperture stop close to the short conjugate side of the lens
• the invention provides projection lenses which have some and preferably all of the above seven features.
• the invention provides a projection lens having a power
• ⁇ o and consisting in order from the lens' long conjugate side to its short conjugate side of: (A) a first lens unit (Ul) having a power ⁇ ui and comprising at least one aspheric surface; and (B) a second lens unit (U2) having a power ⁇ u2 and consisting in order from the lens' long conjugate side to its short conjugate side of: (i) a first lens subunit (Usi) having a power ⁇ si; (ii) a second lens subunit (Us2) having a power ⁇ s2 and an overall meniscus shape which is concave towards the short conjugate; and
• the lens' aperture stop is either within the third lens subunit or spaced from surface S3 in the direction of the long conjugate by a distance D which satisfies the relationship: D « ⁇ o ⁇ 0.1.
• D satisfies the relationship: D « ⁇ o ⁇ 0.1.
• the BFL* ⁇ o product is greater than or equal to 1.2 and the D « ⁇ o product is equal to or less than 0.05.
• the projection lenses of the invention preferably have a field of view ⁇ in the direction of the long conjugate of at least 50° and preferably greater than 55°.
• the projection lenses of the invention preferably have eight or less lens elements, e.g., seven lens elements, where doublets are treated as two lens elements. Considering doublets as a single component, the projection lenses of the invention preferably have six or less components, e.g., five components.
• the projection lenses of the present invention are of the retrofocus or the inverted telephoto type and consist of two lens units, i.e., a negative unit (Ul) on the long conjugate side and a positive unit (U2) on the short conjugate side. As illustrated by the examples presented below, this overall lens form allows the lenses to achieve a long back focal length and a wide field of view in the direction of the lens' long conjugate.
• the lenses of the invention achieve a high level of distortion correction by using one or more aspherical surfaces in the first lens unit.
• the aspherical surfaces are formed on one or more plastic lens elements.
• the lens includes only one plastic lens element with the rest of the lens elements being composed of glass. See commonly- assigned U.S. Patent No. 5,870,228.
• the lens elements of the second lens unit carry the full aperture beam and preferably contain only spherical glass surfaces in order to maintain high levels of surface accuracy and thermal stability.
• the plastic lens element or elements of the first lens unit are preferably made of moldable acrylic to provide the appropriate dispersion for the minimization of secondary lateral color. See commonly-assigned PCT Patent Publication No. WO 00/67059 entitled “Projection Lenses Having Reduced Lateral Color for Use with Pixelized Panels.” See also commonly-assigned U.S. Patent No. 5,625,495.
• PCT Patent Publication No. WO 00/67059 entitled “Projection Lenses Having Reduced Lateral Color for Use with Pixelized Panels.”
• the location of the lens' aperture stop near the lens' short conjugate side makes it difficult to correct the lens' "odd” aberrations.
• One approach to this problem is to employ extensive vignetting at the long conjugate end of the lens. Such an approach, however, results in a significant loss of light output and is unacceptable for a practical projection lens system.
• a high level of aberration correction without extensive vignetting is achieved through the overall structure of the lens in combination with the appropriate distribution of optical power among the various units and subunits making up the lens.
• the lens should satisfy some and preferably all of the following relationships:
• Figures 1-4 and Tables 1-4 illustrate representative projection lenses constructed in accordance with the invention.
• OHARA designations are used for the various glasses employed in the lens systems. Equivalent glasses made by other manufacturers (e.g., HOYA or SCHOTT) can be used in the practice of the invention. Industry acceptable materials are used for the plastic elements.
• z is the surface sag at a distance y from the optical axis of the system
• c is the curvature of the lens at the optical axis
• k is a conic constant, which is zero except where indicated in the prescriptions of Tables 1-4.
• the designation "a” associated with various surfaces in the tables represents an aspherical surface, i.e., a surface for which at least one of D, E, F, G, H, or I in the above equation is not zero; and the designation "c" indicates a surface for which k in the above equation is not zero.
• the various planar structures located on the short conjugate side of U2 in the figures and tables represent components which are used with or are a part of the pixelized panel. They do not constitute part of the projection lens.
• the material designations for the planar structures of Tables 1 and 2 are set forth as six digit numbers, where an N e value for the material is obtained by dividing the first three digits of the designation by 1,000 and adding 1.000, and a V e value is obtained from the last three digits by placing a decimal point before the last digit.
• the prescription tables are constructed on the assumption that light travels from left to right in the figures. In actual practice, the viewing screen will be on the left and the pixelized panel will be on the right, and light will travel from right to left. In particular, the references in the prescription tables to objects/images and entrance/exit pupils are reversed from that used in the rest of the specification.
• the pixelized panel is shown in the Figures 1-4 by the designation "PP" and the aperture stop is shown by the designation "AS”.
• the powers of the various lens units and subunits making up the projection lenses of Tables 1-4 are set forth in Table 5 with the various power ratios discussed above being listed in Table 6. Table 7 sets forth D, D» ⁇ o, BFL and BFL * ⁇ o values for these lenses. As can be seen from Tables 6 and 7, all of the lenses satisfy the desired relationships discussed above. In particular, all of the preferred values for these relationships are satisfied by Examples 1 and 2.
• the projection lenses of the invention preferably also have the following properties:
• the projection lenses of Tables 1-4 achieve both of the foregoing preferred lateral color and preferred distortion levels. In particular, the lenses achieve the preferred level of lateral color correction for a pixel size (pixel width) of less than 15 microns.

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• 2001
  • 2001-02-28 US US09/797,018 patent/US6476974B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
• 2002
  • 2002-02-25 EP EP02707872A patent/EP1373958A4/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 2002-02-25 KR KR10-2003-7011286A patent/KR20030088112A/ko not_active Withdrawn
  • 2002-02-25 WO PCT/US2002/005612 patent/WO2002069013A1/en not_active Ceased
  • 2002-02-25 JP JP2002568075A patent/JP2004523000A/ja not_active Abandoned
  • 2002-02-25 CN CNB028054873A patent/CN1288472C/zh not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2002-02-25 TW TW091103883A patent/TW581884B/zh not_active IP Right Cessation

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