Deterministic diffractive diffusers for displays

A LCD backlighting device that uses a diffractive light extractor has been developed for applications in which pointlike light sources are employed. The novel system eliminates the images of light sources, which appear as bright lines emanating from each source in the conventional diffractive approach. In addition, the system illuminates the LCD uniformly: Modulation of the diffractive structure as a function of position is used to control the output field of this extended planar light source. [C] 2001 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 050.1970, 220.4000, 230.7390.