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Amazing PicoP laser projector

Curiously_Coherent

Curiously_Coherent

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Hey Folks,

Just got my March Popular Science magazine and the lead of the "What's New" section is an article on the PicoP laser projector. Small enough to fit in a cell-phone! It's basically a super-tiny integrated image scanner and there's a great breakdown of how it works on the Microvision site here: http://www.microvision.com/pico_projector_displays/howitworks.html

In the dark this thing can generate a 100in screen size image. There's a few Vids on YouTube that show the output, with scanline artifacts from the cameras that recorded them of course. Just search for PicoP

I'd love to get my hands on one of their integrated beam combiners and put some real power through it ! ;D

Cheers, CC
 





RA_pierce

RA_pierce

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It is amazing but... What I don't understand is the whole diode thing... where the hell do they get blue and green diodes?
 
Curiously_Coherent

Curiously_Coherent

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I was wondering that too... It might be a bit of artistic license to simplify the workings video, or they've come up with some kind of integrated diodes with crystals in the can. (I'll let the more knowledgeable members here debate whether or not this is even possible...) The thing is freakin' tiny though, so they must have found a way to shrink all the workings tremendously and integration is the only way to do that, as evidenced by their super compact beam combiner. There's a lot of really cool engineering in there. Can't wait for someone here to dissect one! :)

Cheers, CC
 
Curiously_Coherent

Curiously_Coherent

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Yeah, Like all things kewl, they will cost big $$$ at first. When they do get around to putting them in phones, (2009?) they will have to be mass-producing them to meet demand and the price will drop I'm sure. I found a PDF on their site that explains a bit more, but still doesn't go into how they get blue & green laser out of single diodes. http://www.microvision.com/pdfs/benefits_apps.pdf

Maybe they integrated the crystals into the beam combiner optic? They'll be on the market by year-end, so we'll just have to wait for the first dissection I guess!

Cheers, CC
 
Curiously_Coherent

Curiously_Coherent

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It turns out that the iPod-size stand-alone laser projector will cost between US$300 and $500 when it hits the market later this year. It's amazing that they replace galvos with that one tiny MEMS chip. Still no info on the integrated diodes though.

Cheers, CC
 
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Tallaxo

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I saw an article on the BBC news program "click" several weeks ago. and it showed the actual output of one of these devices , to project a full colour display on a screen from a mobile device. The truth is, real blue diodes are commonly available to those that are in the know. The secrecy is because , laser TV is the next technology that will be unvailed to us all in the coming years. There is a whole heap of money to be made, and that is why you, as the laser hobbiest, barely even know of their existance.

The same is true of green direct diode chips. In the coming years you will see that DPSS lasers are so yesterday.

Jase
 
Curiously_Coherent

Curiously_Coherent

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That makes a lot of sense Tallaxo... youve gotta know that the hot new laser technologies are protected by either military or commercial secrecy. :(

I was thinking that these diodes must be either not be too powerful or super-efficient because there seems to be little accommodation for heat-sinking or cooling in their design. Also, they will be run for entire presentations and will need to be very reliable, so these things must be light-years ahead of what we can get our hands on now.

Pretty impressive, actually. It looks like the future of displays is getting very bright... :D

Cheers, CC
 
RA_pierce

RA_pierce

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:) Yay! Blue and green diodes!!!
I'm so happy! :D
And everyone and their mom are gonna have blue lasers. :-/

I'm gonna build my own white laser :)

So is this PicoP laser projector capable of projecting only still images or animations and movies too?
 
FireMyLaser

FireMyLaser

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RA_pierce said:
So is this PicoP laser projector capable of projecting only still images or animations and movies too?
Click to expand...
It sure does, look on youtube  :D
 
RA_pierce

RA_pierce

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Damn! This thing is insane!! :eek:

But how is laser television more practical than regular TVs?
They would cost a helluva lot more than a normal TV and I doubt there would be a big improvement in picture quality and color...

But this PicoP thing... I'm still amazed by the blue diodes...

Hey! It just occurred to me that yellow, cyan, orange and pink pointers can now be much easier to make with the right combination of diodes... or do they already have yellow etc. diodes??? :-?
No more expensive and inefficient DPSS!
 
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spyrorocks

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Once/if these PicoP things make it big, we can just dissect electronics that contain them and put them inside pointers and have a multi color handheld laser pointer :)
 
RA_pierce

RA_pierce

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It would be neat to have some type of power adjustment for each diode so you can make whatever color you want. Just like three little pots... a hand held white laser would be so kickass... I would imagine heat sinking for higher powered lasers would be a problem though...
 
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