a system and technique for directing intensity modulated electromagnetic energy . the inventive system includes an intensity modulated source of electromagnetic energy . individual elements in an array of energy directing elements are activated in sync with the modulation of the energy source . in a particular implementation , the source is a laser . the intensity of the laser is reduced during each successive field per frame . the energy directing elements , in this case , light directing elements , are implemented with an array of digital micromirrors . the light source is modulated in intensity in accordance with a fixed modulation scheme . the mirrors are selectively activated relative to the light source modulation scheme . hence , the invention provides a gray scale output while allowing the time between mirror flips to be constant . this allows the system clocks to run synchronously and greatly simplifies the writing of data into the display as the time available for writing each bit is constant .