Patent ID: RE44949

Claim:
A flat panel display, comprising: an array of light modulators arranged across the flat panel display; and a backlight comprising a plurality of laser assemblies distributed across a surface positioned behind the array of light modulators, such that the plurality of laser assemblies directly illuminate the array of light modulators from behind and the array of light modulators modulates light emitted by the backlight, wherein: each laser assembly comprises a plurality of lasing elements of at least one primary color, at least two of the plurality of laser assemblies include lasing elements of the same primary color, the plurality of lasing elements of at least one of the three primary colors are selected such that each lasing element emits a laser beam with a center wavelength λ 0i and a spectral bandwidth Δλ i , the center wavelength of at least one of the lasing elements is wavelength-shifted with respect to the center wavelength of at least one other lasing element, and said laser beams, when combined, have an ensemble spectrum Λ with an overlap parameter γ= Δλ i / S i , with Δλ i being a mean spectral bandwidth of the lasing elements and S i being a mean wavelength shift between the center wavelengths λ 0i of the at least one and the at least one other lasing elements, with Δλ i and S i selected such that γ≧1.