Just how small do you think projectors will get in due time? Well, chances are nanotechnology will help us make large strides, but at this point in time we’ll have to be content with what Nippon Signal has to offer – a SVGA compact color projector so small, it resembles a cigarette box. Now that’s really tiny, although you do have to make do with the 800 x 600 resolution which won’t win points with audiophiles who want the latest and greatest. Still, portability is a huge asset here as everyone knows, lugging around a really large projector whenever you head out of the office will cause nothing but shoulder aches and a worried persona (you never know who might just make off with that $10k projector anytime).

Being this small is a vast improvement over its predecessor that measured roughly the size of a lunch box, and this further reduction in size is due to the miniaturization of the projector’s optical system, including lenses and the MEMS scanner that scans laser light beams in RGB colors. Good thing the image quality has been improved as well, and all signs point toward Nippon Signal’s latest invention to be commercialized in due time, making executives everywhere breathe a sigh of relief as they will be able to travel light(er) soon.

Nippon Signal has also worked together with an optical device manufacturer to design proprietary optical parts such as lenses. Take the prototyped prism lens for example, this exclusive part is meant for projectors only and has been specially adopted to correct the distortion of light emitted from a semiconductor laser diode. Thanks to this technology, the length of the optical path of the blue laser beam was reduced to somewhere in the region of 1/4 when placed side by side with its predecessor. In addition, the new projector also relies on the semiconductor laser for the green laser light source in lieu of the diode pumping solid state (DPSS) laser found in the former prototype. This does away with the need for an acoustic optical modulator (AOM) which took up more space within, enabling Nippon Signal to further reduce its size.

Source: TechOn