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Abstract

A method of reducing speckle includes dividing a laser illuminated area into phase cells, subdividing the phase cells into cell partitions, and applying a temporal phase variation to the cell partitions within an integration time of an intensity detector viewing the laser illuminated area. An apparatus for reducing speckle includes illumination optics, a diffuser, and projection optics. The illumination optics couple a laser illumination to the diffuser, which is located in a first image plane. The diffuser divides the laser illumination into the phase cells and subdivides the phase cells into the cell partitions. The diffuser also applies the temporal phase variation to the cell partitions. The projection optics project an image of the first image plane onto a diffuse surface. A display apparatus adds a light modulator to the apparatus for reducing speckle and places the light modulator in a third image plane located between a laser source and the diffuser. The diffuser includes first and second diffuser cells, each of which include first and second diffuser cell partitions. In use, the first diffuser cell partitions induce a first relative phase of zero while the second diffuser cell partitions induce a second relative phase of pi radians. The first and second diffuser cell partitions of the first diffuser cells are preferably arranged in a first Hadamard matrix pattern. The first and second diffuser cell partitions of the second diffuser cell are preferably arranged in a second Hadamard matrix pattern.

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