Patent ID: 6896371

Claim:
An image projector, comprising: means for producing substantially polarized light, said means for producing substantially polarized light being adapted to divide a substantially unpolarized beam into a first polarized subbeam and a second polarized subbeam, said first and second polarized subbeams having polarization states, which are essentially orthogonal to one another, and said means for producing substantially polarized light being adapted to transform said first polarized subbeam to the polarization state of the second subbeam; a polarization modulator, which is adapted to spatially-selectively modulate a polarization of the substantially polarized light; color-separating means adapted to color-separate the substantially polarized light into a plurality of color-component subbeams: projecting means for projecting the spatially-selectively polarization-modulated light beam; a wire-grid polarizing beamsplitter, which passes all of the plurality of color-component subbeams to the polarization modulator, and which reflects the spatially-selectively polarization-modulated light to the projecting means; and a beam shaping lens adapted to compensate for an astigmatism introduced in the substantially polarized light by the wire-grid polarizing beamsplitter.