Chapter 2---System Description
primary light source. The light output to the screen is the function
of the Arc Lamp. The purpose of the CRTs is to generate an
image and to control the amount of modulation the ILA
®
assemblies introduce on the light coming from the Arc Lamp. The
Red, Green, and Blue image signals are routed to the CRTs from
the Video Amplifier Board through the CRT socket connectors.
Relay Lens: The relay lens picks up the image from the face of
the CRT and focuses the image to the ILA
®
assembly.
Image Light Amplifier (ILA
®
) Assembly: The CRT image is
received from the relay lens onto the input side of the ILA
®
assembly. The input and output sides of the ILA
®
assembly are
isolated from each other electrically and optically but are coupled
electrostatically.
At the same time as the image is received at the input side of the
ILA
®
assembly, the output side of the ILA
®
assembly is receiving
high intensity light from the arc lamp through the prism. This high
intensity light is modulated (changing its polarization) by the signal
on the input side of the ILA
®
assembly. The light is then reflected
back from the output side of the ILA
®
assembly, then travels
through the prism to be picked up by the projection lens.
NOTE: The prism reflects horizontally polarized light and passes
vertically polarized light. Light from the arc lamp is polarized
horizontally and reflects from the prism into the ILA
®
assembly
then back out again, after being modulated by the image signal
into vertically polarized light. The vertically polarized light then
passes through the prism to the projector lens. In this manner the
ILA
®
assembly combines the image from the CRT with the high
intensity light from the arc lamp. Thus, the maximum brightness of
the screen image is not dependent on the brightness of the CRT,
but on the light from the arc lamp.
For a more detailed description of how the ILA
®
assembly works,
refer to Section 2.7 below.
Polarizing Prism: The polarizing prism receives the high intensity
light from the xenon arc lamp and polarizes the light horizontally.
The prism reflects virtually all of this light toward the ILA
®
assembly. This light is then modulated (altered) into a vertical
plane by the image on the input side of the ILA
®
assembly and
then reflected back into the same prism. Since the prism reflects
only horizontal light and passes vertical light, this high intensity,
vertically polarized image goes straight through the prism toward
the Combining Prism. Light that is not completely polarized
horizontally or vertically passes through the prism in varying
degrees of brightness, according to how polarized it is (fully
polarized light resulting in maximum brightness on the screen).
Image Mirror: The Image Mirrors direct the blue and red images
toward the Combining Prism.
Model 200 Service Manual 2-3