Nanometer-Order Control of MEMS Ribbons for Blazed Grating Light Valves

The performance of grating light valve (GLVTM) chips can be increased by optimizing their ribbon structures [1]. A GLV is a one-dimensional light modulator using diffraction that can be applied to a high definition display by scanning the second dimension. We applied blazed GLV, which diffracts in only one direction [2], and achieved a jump in contrast from 3000:1 to 10000:1. Moreover, we achieved a 55 to 70% improvement in optical efficiency due to nanometer-order control of blazed GLV ribbon. These technologies were applied to the 2005-inch theater system "GxL (TM) Laser Dream Theater" [3, 4].