Titus Tube. Application to Large-Screen Picture Projection.

The Titus tube is an electron beam addressed light-valve which uses the Pockels effect in a monocrystalline plate of deuterated diacid potassium phosphate, cooled down to a temperature close to its Curie point. The operating principle and main characteristics of the tube are described, with its application to large screen TV picture or data projection. As a result of the tube storage property, and the mode of operation used, the pictures are characterized by an absence of flicker and visible line structure, with no loss of resolution. Maximum light flux obtained with an experimental system for the projection of color TV pictures, using three Titus tubes, reaches 2800 lm with a 4 kW xenon arc lamp. This flux is adequate for projection, in a darkened room, onto screens with an area of 25 to 30 m**2.