Power Technology Receives $100k from ASTA to Develop Laser Projection System

PTI hopes to break into the movies with its Illumina laser projection system.

Power Technology Inc. of Alexander has developed a laser projection technology called Illumina that it believes can replace traditional movie projection systems.

On Friday, the Arkansas Science & Technology Authority announced it had invested $100,000 from its Technology Development Program in PTI for development of the technology.

PTI, an Innovate Arkansas client firm, announced last fall that it would begin marketing Illumina, which was designed to meet a growing industry demand for increased on-screen brightness in 3D and large format theaters.

PTI vice president for sales and engineering Walter Burgess said laser projection technology is expected to soon replace the current cinema-standard practice of projecting films using Xenon Arc Lamps.

“Illumina’s laser light technology is far superior to conventional lamp-based projection,” he said in a news release. “It’s the future of cinema. Today’s cinema projectors are based on Xenon Arc lamps that were invented in 1947. Those lamps were adequate for many years, but they can’t produce enough light to project 3D and IMAX formats efficiently.”

Burgess said potential customers include members of the Laser Illumined Projector Association, an organization made up of many of the world’s largest projection companies such as IMAX, Christie Digital, Barco and Sony.