Conventional LCD schemes are not practical when we talk about a new generation of portable projectors where battery life is limited because of their limited optical efficiency. In collaboration with ImagineOptix, three generations of energy-efficient portable projectors have been created by exploiting the interesting optical properties of PGs and Polarization Conversion Systems.
These "pico-projectors" are extremely energy efficient and rival/exceed the luminous efficacy of other current commerical products. An image of the gen-2 prototype is shown to the right. These projectors are not only energy efficient but are compact, and cheap to manufacture in a large volume, etc. There is ongoing research as this technology is commercialized to improve other aspects of such projectors such as contrast-ratios, color uniformity, etc. Please check out the website ImagineOptix for more useful information.
We have demonstrated various prototype projectors at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Vegas in recent years.