Versatile method for achieving 1% speckle contrast in large-venue laser projection displays using a stationary multimode optical fiber.

We propose a method based on quantitative theoretical analysis for achieving speckle contrast of 1% or less in images created by a full-frame laser projection display system. The method employs a stationary multimode optical fiber to achieve the effect of using a rapidly moving diffuser, but without moving the fiber or any other system component. When a suitably large projector lens is used, low-speckle illumination light delivered through the fiber acts in conjunction with wavelength diversity at the projection screen to achieve speckle contrast of 1% in viewed images. We describe in detail how the proposed method might be used with most types of high-power visible lasers being considered for large-venue displays. When used with visible laser diodes, the method may also be suitable for use in laser-based television.

Very efficient speckle contrast reduction realized by moving diffuser device.

Speckle noise reduction is best tested on a precise speckle contrast measurement bench, which should be able to measure 100% contrast in fully developed speckle as well as the smallest contrast (for example, less than 10%) after its reduction. On such a test bench, we have measured very efficient speckle contrast reduction by temporal averaging using a moving diffuser on a tuning fork, which vibrates at 100 Hz over 60 microm in amplitude, a distance that is three times the surface roughness correlation length of the diffuser.

Cytotype regulation of P transposable elements in Drosophila melanogaster: repressor polypeptides or piRNAs?

The telomeric P elements TP5 and TP6 are associated with the P cytotype, a maternally inherited condition that represses P-element-induced hybrid dysgenesis in the Drosophila germ line. To see if cytotype repression by TP5 and TP6 might be mediated by the polypeptides they could encode, hobo transgenes carrying these elements were tested for expression of mRNA in the female germ line and for repression of hybrid dysgenesis. The TP5 and TP6 transgenes expressed more germ-line mRNA than the native telomeric P elements, but they were decidedly inferior to the native elements in their ability to repress hybrid dysgenesis. These paradoxical results are inconsistent with the repressor polypeptide model of cytotype. An alternative model based on the destruction of P transposase mRNA by Piwi-interacting (pi) RNAs was supported by finding reduced P mRNA levels in flies that carried the native telomeric P elements, which are inserted in a known major piRNA locus.

Speckle with a finite number of steps.

The statistical properties of classical, fully developed speckle must be modified when the speckle is generated by a random walk with a finite number of steps. It is shown that for such speckle, the standard negative-exponential probability density function for speckle intensity often overestimates the probability that the intensity exceeds a given threshold. In addition, while any linear transformation of the fields in a classical speckle pattern does not change the intensity statistics, the same is not true for finite-step speckle. The implications of these facts in certain applications are discussed.

Cytotype regulation by telomeric P elements in Drosophila melanogaster: evidence for involvement of an RNA interference gene.

P elements inserted at the left telomere of the X chromosome evoke the P cytotype, a maternally inherited condition that regulates the P-element family in the Drosophila germline. This regulation is completely disrupted in stocks heterozygous for mutations in aubergine, a gene whose protein product is involved in RNA interference. However, cytotype is not disrupted in stocks heterozygous for mutations in two other RNAi genes, piwi and homeless (spindle-E), or in a stock heterozygous for a mutation in the chromatin protein gene Enhancer of zeste. aubergine mutations exert their effects in the female germline, where the P cytotype is normally established and through which it is maintained. These effects are transmitted maternally to offspring of both sexes independently of the mutations themselves. Lines derived from mutant aubergine stocks reestablish the P cytotype quickly, unlike lines derived from stocks heterozygous for a mutation in Suppressor of variegation 205, the gene that encodes the telomere-capping protein HP1. Cytotype regulation by telomeric P elements may be tied to a system that uses RNAi to regulate the activities of telomeric retrotransposons in Drosophila.

Cytotype regulation by telomeric P elements in Drosophila melanogaster: interactions with P elements from M' strains.

P strains of Drosophila are distinguished from M strains by having P elements in their genomes and also by having the P cytotype, a maternally inherited condition that strongly represses P-element-induced hybrid dysgenesis. The P cytotype is associated with P elements inserted near the left telomere of the X chromosome. Repression by the telomeric P elements TP5 and TP6 is significantly enhanced when these elements are crossed into M' strains, which, like P strains, carry P elements, but have little or no ability to repress dysgenesis. The telomeric and M' P elements must coexist in females for this enhanced repression ability to develop. However, once established, it is transmitted maternally to the immediate offspring independently of the telomeric P elements themselves. Females that carry a telomeric P element but that do not carry M' P elements may also transmit an ability to repress dysgenesis to their offspring independently of the telomeric P element. Cytotype regulation therefore involves a maternally transmissible product of telomeric P elements that can interact synergistically with products from paternally inherited M' P elements. This synergism between TP and M' P elements also appears to persist for at least one generation after the TP has been removed from the genotype.