Patent ID: 6877859

Claim:
A projection apparatus for projecting a multicolor image, the apparatus comprising: (a) a light source for providing visible light; (b) a dichroic separator for splitting the visible light into color light beams; (c) illumination optics to direct each of said color light beams into a corresponding light modulation assemblies; (d) wherein each of said light modulation assemblies are similarly constructed and comprise: (i) a pre-polarizer for pre-polarizing a color light beam; (ii) a polarization beamsplitter for transmitting a color light beam having a first polarization and reflecting light having a second polarization, thereby providing a polarized beam of light; (iii) a reflective spatial light modulator which receives said polarized beam of light having either a first polarization or a second polarization, and which selectively modulates said polarized beam of light to encode data thereon, providing both modulated light and unmodulated light which differ in polarization; wherein said reflective spatial light modulator reflects back both said modulated light and said unmodulated light to said polarization beamsplitter; and (iv) a polarization analyzer which receives said modulated light, and which further removes any residual unmodulated light from said modulated light; (v) a magnifying relay lens for focusing and relaying said modulated light to form a magnified real image of said reflective spatial light modulator; (e) a dichroic combiner which forms a multicolor image by overlapping said magnified real images from each of said color light beams onto a common optical axis; (f) a projection lens for projecting said multicolor image toward a display surface; and (g) wherein each of said polarization analyzers are tilted relative to a local optical axis and are located in proximity to at least one of said magnified real images of the color light beams.