Abstract: A plurality of imaging regions (104, 105 and 106) capture a plurality of images, respectively, via a plurality of imaging optical systems (101, 102 and 103) corresponding one to one to the plurality of imaging regions. An image combining means (115) eliminates a difference among the plurality of images and combines the plurality of images into a single image. Thereby, it is possible to obtain a combined image of high quality.

Abstract: A diffractive optical element that can be molded readily, an imaging apparatus incorporating the diffractive optical element, and a method for manufacturing the diffractive optical element are provided. A diffractive optical element (10) includes a substrate (11) that is made of a first material containing a resin and has a surface (11a, 11b) on which a diffraction grating pattern (12a, 12b) is formed, and a coating film (13a, 13b) that is made of a second material containing a resin and is disposed so as to be in contact with a portion of the diffraction grating pattern (12a, 12b), and at least one material selected from the first material and the second material is a composite material containing inorganic particles.

Abstract: In a conventional optical device which mounts a semiconductor light emitting element, the processing is difficult and a manufacturing process cost is expensive because of the necessity of forming via holes in a substrate. An optical device comprises a laser diode which needs heat radiation, a glass substrate which is integrally molded into a mold glass for arranging the laser diode, a metallic heat sink arranged at an edge of the glass substrate for radiating heat generated from the laser diode, wherein an active layer proximity surface of the laser diode is arranged to oppose the heat sink, both of them are connected with a conductive paste through a lateral groove formed in the glass substrate.

Abstract: In a refraction lens having an aspheric shape formed thereon and having a positive power, a diffraction grating is formed on at least one of the faces of the refraction lens. In order to reduce the curvature of field and the chromatic aberration in a well-balanced manner, the zonal pitch of the diffraction grating is constituted so as to satisfy the following conditional expression. [ eq . ? 19 ] 0.21 ? ? m 2 ? v d ? ? ? f h max < ? min < 0.30 ? ? m 2 ? v d ? ? ? f h max ( 1 ) Herein, ?min is a minimum zonal pitch 12; m is an order of diffraction; ?d is an Abbe number of the lens substrate material with respect to the d-line; ? is a wavelength; f is an effective focal length; and hmax is an effective radius 13 of the face on which the diffraction grating is formed.

Abstract: A diffractive optical element according to the present invention includes: a lens body 11 with a blazed grating 13 on an aspheric surface 11a thereof; and an optical adjustment layer 15 that covers the diffraction grating 13. The lens body 11 is made of a first material 14a and the optical adjustment layer 15 is made of a second material 14b that has a higher refractive index than the first material 14a. The diffraction grating 13 has a number of ring zones that are arranged concentrically around an optical axis, where the height of each ring zone with respect to the aspheric surface 11a of the lens body 11 is represented by an increasing function of a distance r from the optical axis. The increasing function is represented by a phase polynomial that uses the distance r as a variable and that has a magnitude of 3/4? to 7/4? when r=0.

Abstract: [Object] A measurement method and an evaluating apparatus are provided which are capable of easily and accurately evaluating the light amount of a spot beam, the diffraction efficiency, and the intensity distribution in the optical axis direction by detecting even a weak diffracted beam in an arbitrary wavelength range converged by a diffraction optical element as an imaging lens. [Means for Attaining the Object] Light emitted from a white light source 11 passes through a wavelength band-pass filter 12 and is diaphragmed by a pinhole slit 13. The resultant light is paralleled by a collimator lens 14 and enters a diffraction optical element 16 as an imaging lens. The light getting out from the diffraction optical element 16 is converged to be a spot beam 17, is magnified by a microscope 18, and is then projected on a CCD 19.

Abstract: A three-dimensional optical waveguide is formed by laminating planar substrates such as a plurality of lens substrates and, an isolator substrate and a wavelength division multiplexing filter, the optical substrates at least include a waveguide substrate having a waveguide and a reflecting surface. In the three-dimensional optical waveguide, the planar substrates are positioned by markers integrally formed on at least two of the planar substrates. Light directed into the waveguide is reflected by a reflecting surface and passes through the lens substrates and the isolator substrate.

Abstract: A stereoscopic image display apparatus includes a synthetic image (10) formed by synthesizing a plurality of original images from different viewing points, a lens array (12), and a diffraction element array (11) having the same pitch as the lens array. The diffraction element array has a layer (11a) made of a first material and a layer (11b) made of a second material and includes a blazed diffraction grating pattern with a depth d that is formed at an interface between the layer made of the first material and the layer made of the second material. When the refractive index of the first material and the refractive index of the second material are expressed as functions of an arbitrary wavelength ? in the visible light range as n1(?) and n2(?), respectively, the depth d is substantially equal to ?/|n1(?)?n2(?)|.

Abstract: A diffractive imaging lens 10 includes a surface on which a diffraction grating pattern is formed. The diffraction grating pattern is formed of a plurality of steps formed concentrically with an optical axis (25) at a center. The diffraction grating pattern is formed such that a first portion where amounts (di) of the steps are substantially the same in a radial direction of concentric circles and a second portion, outside of the first portion, where amounts (di) of the steps decrease with distance from the optical axis 25 are provided, or such that the amounts (di) of the steps decrease with distance from the optical axis 25 over the entire diffraction grating pattern.

Abstract: A three-dimensional-optical waveguide is formed by laminating planar substrates such as a plurality of lens substrates and, an isolator substrate and a wavelength division multiplexing filter, the optical substrates at least include a waveguide substrate having a waveguide and a reflecting surface. In the three-dimensional optical waveguide, the planar substrates are positioned by markers integrally formed on at least two of the planar substrates. Light directed into the waveguide is reflected by a reflecting surface and passes through the lens substrates and the isolator substrate.

Abstract: A diffractive optical element that can maintain transparency and be molded easily, and a method for manufacturing the same are provided. A diffractive optical element (10) includes a substrate (11), a protective film (13a, 13b), and a diffraction grating (12a, 12b) disposed between the substrate (11) and the protective film (13a, 13b), wherein the diffraction grating (12a, 12b) is formed of a composite material containing a resin and inorganic particles, a volume ratio of the inorganic particles with respect to the composite material is equal to or smaller than 50% by volume, and the diffraction grating (12a, 12b) has a thickness of equal to or smaller than 20 ?m. Since the diffractive optical element (10) uses the composite material containing the resin and the inorganic particles as a material for the diffraction grating (12a, 12b), which is relatively difficult to process, the moldability improves compared with the conventional case of using glass, etc.

Abstract: A composite material (10) includes a resin (12), and first inorganic particles (11) dispersed in the resin and containing at least zirconium oxide. The composite material has a refractive index at the d line nCOMd of not less than 1.60 and an Abbe's number ?COM of not less than 20, and satisfies a relationship nCOMd?1.8?0.005 ?COM. This composite material exhibits both a high refractive index and low dispersion in good balance, and has excellent workability. Accordingly, using this composite material makes it possible to realize a small optical component having favorable wavelength characteristics.

Abstract: Based on information indicating the signal transmission amount between the first and second circuit blocks, a switching device switches an optical signal communication form which uses a first and second optical signal transmitting/receiving devices and an electric signal communication form which uses a first and second electric signal transmitting/receiving devices. Thereby, in a portable information terminal apparatus with a separate main body operation unit and a separate screen display unit, power consumed by the optical signal communication can be suppressed.

Abstract: In a method for forming an image of a subject on a solid-state imaging device, a first time period for splitting a light beam from a subject into a plurality of light beams that have different polarization directions and then combining the plurality of light beams to form a single subject image on the solid-state imaging device and a second time period for splitting the light beam from the subject into the plurality of light beams that have different polarization directions and forming a plurality of subject images that overlap each other partially on the solid-state imaging device are switched time-wise. A first image information on the single subject image is obtained based on pieces of signal information in the first time period, and a second image information on one of the plurality of subject images is calculated by using and computing pieces of signal information in the second time period.

Abstract: A plurality of imaging regions (104, 105 and 106) capture a plurality of images, respectively, via a plurality of imaging optical systems (101, 102 and 103) corresponding one to one to the plurality of imaging regions. An image combining means (115) eliminates a difference among the plurality of images and combines the plurality of images into a single image. Thereby, it is possible to obtain a combined image of high quality.

Abstract: An optical element according to the present invention is an optical element including: a first light transmitting layer having a first sawtooth blazed surface 10, the first light transmitting layer including a plurality of first light-transmitting slopes 12 defining a first blaze angle ?; and a second light transmitting layer having a second sawtooth blazed surface 20 including a plurality of second light-transmitting slopes 22 defining a second blaze angle ?, the second light transmitting layer being in contact with the first sawtooth blazed surface 10 of the first light transmitting layer. A tilting direction of the first light-transmitting slope 12 and a tilting direction of the second light-transmitting slope 22 are opposite.

Abstract: A plurality of single lenses (11a to 11d) form images of a subject in a plurality of imaging regions (17a to 17d), respectively, and electrical signals from the plurality of imaging regions are synthesized, whereby an image is obtained. The plurality of single lenses are held by a lens holder (12), and the plurality of imaging regions are held by an imaging device holder (16). The lens holder and the imaging device holder are disposed so as to be opposed to each other. The lens holder includes a member different from a member of the imaging device holder, and a linear expansion coefficient of a material of the lens holder is substantially equal to a linear expansion coefficient of a material of the imaging device holder. The materials of the lens holder and the imaging device holder are different from a material of the plurality of single lenses. Thereby, a high quality image can be obtained stably irrespective of a temperature change, and a distance to a subject can be measured accurately.

Abstract: A three-dimensional-optical waveguide is formed by laminating planar substrates such as a plurality of lens substrates and, an isolator substrate and a wavelength division multiplexing filter, the optical substrates at least include a waveguide substrate having a waveguide and a reflecting surface. In the three-dimensional optical waveguide, the planar substrates are positioned by markers integrally formed on at least two of the planar substrates. Light directed into the waveguide is reflected by a reflecting surface and passes through the lens substrates and the isolator substrate.

Abstract: A portable device has a configuration such that a plurality of housings are connected functionally, wherein the thickness of a connection section between the housings is reduced so that the portability is improved. The portable device includes a first housing; a first board provided in the first housing; a second housing; a second board provided in the second housing; a connection section for connecting the first housing with the second housing in such a manner that their relative position can be changed; and an optical waveguide film having at least one optical waveguide for connecting the first board with the second board through optical wiring.

Abstract: In a conventional optical device which mounts a semiconductor light emitting element, the processing is difficult and a manufacturing process cost is expensive because of the necessity of forming via holes in a substrate. An optical device comprises a laser diode which needs heat radiation, a glass substrate which is integrally molded into a mold glass for arranging the laser diode, a metallic heat sink arranged at an edge of the glass substrate for radiating heat generated from the laser diode, wherein an active layer proximity surface of the laser diode is arranged to oppose the heat sink, both of them are connected with a conductive paste through a lateral groove formed in the glass substrate.