Beam Dividing Switch Formed From Liquid Crystal Cell Patents (Class 349/196)
  • Patent number: 11921377
    Abstract: Provided is an optical element including: a liquid crystal cell including a first substrate, a liquid crystal layer, and a second substrate; and a quarter-wave film. The liquid crystal layer contains liquid crystal molecules twist-aligned. The liquid crystal cell includes electrodes. The electrodes are disposed to enable switching between a first state and a second state by application of voltage to the liquid crystal layer. The switching between the first state and the second state controls a polarization state of light incident on the liquid crystal cell. Circularly polarized light incident on the liquid crystal cell is converted to first linearly polarized light in the first state while converted to second linearly polarized light in the second state. Linearly polarized light incident on the liquid crystal cell is converted to first circularly polarized light in the first state while converted to second circularly polarized light in the second state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2024
    Assignee: Sharp Display Technology Corporation
    Inventors: Daisuke Minami, Hiroaki Asagi, Kiyoshi Minoura
  • Patent number: 11892662
    Abstract: A diffraction light guide plate, including: a first diffraction substrate; and a second diffraction substrate provided on the first diffraction substrate. The first diffraction substrate includes a first diffraction grating layer on one surface and a second diffraction grating layer on an opposite surface. The second diffraction substrate includes a third diffraction grating layer on one surface and a stress compensation layer on an opposite surface. The first diffraction grating layer separates light having a wavelength of 550 nm or more and 700 nm or less, the second diffraction grating layer separates light having a wavelength of 400 nm or more and 550 nm or less, the third diffraction grating layer separates light having a wavelength of 450 nm or more and 650 nm or less, and the stress compensation layer has stress in the same direction as a direction of stress of the third diffraction grating layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2024
    Assignee: LG CHEM LTD.
    Inventors: Jung Hwan Yoon, Bu Gon Shin, Jeong Ho Park, Eun Kyu Her, So Young Choo
  • Patent number: 11828853
    Abstract: A LIDAR apparatus for scanning a scene, comprising a transmitter stage, a receiver stage, a beam-steering engine configured to steer the light beam received from the transmitter stage in different directions to scan at least a portion of the scene, the beam-steering engine being responsive to steering commands to produce corresponding deflections of the light beam and an operation monitor for monitoring a beam-steering function of the beam-steering engine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2023
    Assignee: LeddarTech Inc.
    Inventors: Jean-Francois Bernier, Pierre Olivier, Dominique Bodziany
  • Patent number: 11828974
    Abstract: A backlight module includes a light guide plate, a light source, a first optical film, and a second optical film. The light source is disposed on one side of a light incident surface of the light guide plate. The first optical film is disposed between the light guide plate and the second optical film. An illumination beam from the light source has a first polarization component and a second polarization component perpendicular to the first polarization component. A ratio of the first polarization component to the second polarization component is greater than or equal to 1.2 and less than or equal to 10. The second optical film includes a substrate and a plurality of prism structures disposed between the substrate and the light guide plate. An included angle between an extending direction of the prism structures and the light incident surface is less than 5 degrees.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2023
    Assignee: Coretronic Corporation
    Inventors: Yu-Sung Lai, Chung-Yang Fang, Shih-Wei Liu
  • Patent number: 11796872
    Abstract: A display may include illumination optics, a ferroelectric liquid crystal on silicon (fLCOS) panel, and a waveguide. A twisted nematic cell may be optically interposed between the fLCOS panel and the waveguide. A birefringent crystal may be optically interposed between the cell and the waveguide. The cell may have a first state in which the cell transmits the image light with a first polarization and a second state in which the cell transmits the image light with a second polarization. The crystal may transmit the image light within spatially offset beams based on polarization. In another arrangement, a quarter waveplate may be optically interposed between the cell and the waveguide and a geometric phase grating may be optically interposed between the quarter waveplate and the waveguide. Control circuitry may toggle the cell between the first and second states to maximize the effective resolution of images at an eye box.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2023
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Ziqian He, Xiaokai Li, Zhibing Ge, Kaikai Guo, Yuan Chen
  • Patent number: 11774823
    Abstract: A wearable augmented reality head-mounted display system can be configured to pass light from the world forward a wearer wearing the head-mounted system into an eye of the wearer. The head-mounted display system can include an optical display that is configured to output light to form an image. The system may include one or more waveguides that are disposed to receiving the light from the display. A variable power reflector can be disposed on the forward side of the one or more waveguides. The reflector can be configured to have an optical power that is adjustable upon application of an electrical signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2023
    Assignee: MAGIC LEAP, INC.
    Inventors: Brian T. Schowengerdt, John Graham Macnamara, Chulwoo Oh
  • Patent number: 11754863
    Abstract: A device includes a polarization rotator configured to be switchable between operating in two switching states. The device also includes a controller configured to control the polarization rotator to switch between operating in the two switching states at a predetermined switching frequency, to thereby switch, a polarization of a component of an input light having an initial light intensity, between two orthogonal polarizations at the predetermined switching frequency. The device also includes a polarizer coupled with the polarization rotator, and configured to convert the input light transmitted through the polarization rotator into an output light having a light intensity reduced to a predetermined percentage of the initial light intensity of the input light.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2023
    Assignee: META PLATFORMS TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: Jasmine Soria Sears, Afsoon Jamali, Gareth Valentine, Nathan Matsuda
  • Patent number: 11714326
    Abstract: Example display devices include a waveguide configured to propagate visible light under total internal reflection in a direction parallel to a major surface of the waveguide. The waveguide has formed thereon an outcoupling element configured to outcouple a portion of the visible light in a direction normal to the major surface of the waveguide. The example display devices additionally include a polarization-selective notch reflector disposed on a first side of the waveguide and configured to reflect visible light having a first polarization while transmitting the portion of the visible light having a second polarization. The example display devices further include a polarization-independent notch reflector disposed on a second side of the waveguide and configured to reflect visible light having the first polarization and the second polarization, where the polarization-independent notch reflector is configured to convert a polarization of visible light reflecting therefrom.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2023
    Assignee: Magic Leap, Inc.
    Inventor: Chulwoo Oh
  • Patent number: 11703675
    Abstract: The present application provides a display panel and a manufacturing method of the display panel. When an electrochromic layer is completely closed, a metasurface structure and an electrowetting structure reflect a light with corresponding wavelength to form a reflection state. When the electrochromic layer is partially closed, the metasurface structure and the electrowetting structure corresponding to a part of the closed electrochromic layer reflect the light with corresponding wavelength to form the reflection state, and the light penetrates through the wetted metasurface structure and a part of the unclosed electrochromic layer to form a transparent state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2023
    Assignee: TCL CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Yanan Wang
  • Patent number: 11624913
    Abstract: An optical display system includes an information display (image-generating) component, a polarization dependent image offset optical element and possibly also a polarization rotator. By controlling the image offset optical element either by direct applying voltage or by controlling the polarization of the displayed light through the polarization rotator, the display pixels can be switched by a certain portion. By switching between offset and non-offset state with appropriate image displayed, the resolution as observed by the users can be enhanced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2023
    Assignee: University of Central Florida Research Foundation, Inc.
    Inventors: Yun-Han Lee, Tao Zhan, Guanjun Tan, Fangwang Gou, Fenglin Peng, Shin-Tson Wu
  • Patent number: 11624753
    Abstract: A rotational speed sensor, a manufacturing method thereof, a driving method thereof, and an electronic device are provided. The rotational speed sensor includes liquid crystal cell, rotational speed sensing module and rotational speed determining module; rotational speed sensing module is configured to convert rotational speed into voltage signal and apply voltage signal to liquid crystal cell; and at least a part of optical signal propagation module of rotational speed determining module is located in liquid crystal cell.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2023
    Assignees: BEIJING BOE OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD., BOE TECHNOLOGY GROUP CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yu Liu, Liguang Deng, Xiaoliang Fu, Shuqian Dou, Zhiqiang Fan, Ting Tian, Yawen Zhang, Dayong Zhou, Dong Zhang, Youcai Yang, Zhongjun Wang, Yongjie Han
  • Patent number: 11562679
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a computing system may determine a target grayscale value associated with a target image to be represented by a plurality of subframes. The system may determine grayscale ranges based on the target grayscale value. Each grayscale range may correspond to a combination of zero or more subframes of the plurality of subframes. The system may select dot subsets from a dithering mask based on the grayscale ranges. Each of the dot subsets may correspond to a grayscale range. The system may generate the subframes based on (1) the selected dot subsets and (2) respective combinations of zero or more subframes. The subframes may have a smaller number of bits per color than the target frame. The system may display the subframes sequentially in time domain on a display to represent the target image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2023
    Assignee: Meta Platforms Technologies, LLC
    Inventor: Edward Buckley
  • Patent number: 11487131
    Abstract: A device for reducing laser speckle using a micro scanner and a holographic diffuser. The micro scanner includes a first transparent optical substrate with an input surface and an output surface and a second transparent optical substrate with an input surface and an output surface and a variable refractive index medium sandwiched between the output surface of the first substrate and the input surface of the second substrate. Transparent electrodes are applied to the output surface of the first substrate and the input surface of the second substrate. The electrodes are coupled to a voltage generator. The input surface of the first substrate is optically coupled to a laser source. The input surface of the second substrate is configured as an array of prismatic elements. At least one of the input surface of the first substrate or the output surfaces of the second substrate is planar.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2022
    Assignee: DigiLens Inc.
    Inventors: Milan Momcilo Popovich, Jonathan David Waldern
  • Patent number: 11474366
    Abstract: A light projector including a light source, a beam multiplication film, and a tunable wave plate is provided. The light source is configured to emit a light beam. The beam multiplication film is disposed on a transmission path of the light beam and made of anisotropic refractive index material, wherein a plurality of separated light beams are produced after the light beam from the light source passes through the beam multiplication film. The tunable wave plate is disposed on transmission paths of the separated light beams from the beam multiplication film and configured to modulate the separated light beams.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2022
    Assignee: LIQXTAL TECHNOLOGY INC.
    Inventors: Hung-Shan Chen, Yen-Chen Chen
  • Patent number: 11435399
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for testing a threshold energy required to cause a latchup on an electronic component. An exemplary method includes applying a series of laser pulses to a testing object with a pulsed laser unit. The testing object is connected to a testing circuit which can measure the energy of each of the series of laser pulses, and detect whether a pulse of the series of laser pulses resulted in a latchup on the testing object. Upon detecting the pulse, the method provides for logging the energy of the pulse using a recording unit and logging the latchup status of the test device. If a latchup is detected, the testing circuit automatically mitigates the latchup event.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2022
    Assignee: Vanderbilt University
    Inventors: Andrew L. Sternberg, Ronald D. Schrimpf, Robert A. Reed
  • Patent number: 11353653
    Abstract: An optical waveguide apparatus including a first dispersion unit and a separation unit. The first dispersion unit is connected to the separation unit, the first dispersion unit is configured to disperse a frequency component of at least one first optical signal, and the separation unit is configured to separate, into at least one second optical signal based on configuration information, the frequency component that is of the at least one first optical signal and that is dispersed by the first dispersion unit. The separation unit is implemented by a variable optical waveguide, and the variable optical waveguide is an optical waveguide that implements at least one of the following functions based on the configuration information: forming an optical waveguide, eliminating an optical waveguide, and changing a shape of an optical waveguide.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2022
    Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Shiyi Cao
  • Patent number: 11236970
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is an active seeker system for detection and/or tracking of moving targets. The system includes: an illumination module generating an illumination beam to be output from the system; an optical assembly for shaping the solid angle of the field of view (FOV) of the output beam; an optical path scanning module adapted for angularly deflecting the output optical path of the output beam about a scan axis to perform one or more scanning cycles; and an imaging module adapted to image light in the spectral regime of the beam, arriving from a certain field of view about the output optical path of the beam. In some cases, the solid angle of the output light beam is shaped such that it has an elongated FOV cross-section extending along a certain lateral of the beam; and the output optical path is angularly deflected in a direction travers to the longer axis of the elongated FOV of beam so as to swipe the elongated FOV of the beam to cover a desired field of regard (FOR) with one dimensional scanning.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 1, 2022
    Assignee: ISRAEL AEROSPACE INDUSTRIES LTD.
    Inventor: Shahar Levy
  • Patent number: 11194086
    Abstract: Three-dimensional (3D) electronic displays provide different 3D views and employ one or both of an array of multibeam diffraction gratings arranged in offset rows and light valves having color filters. The displays include a plate light guide configured to guide light beams at a non-zero propagation angle, a multibeam diffraction grating configured to couple out a portion of the guided light beams as a plurality of light beams having different principal angular directions representing the different 3D views, and light valves configured to modulate the differently directed, coupled-out light beams. The multibeam diffraction grating may be a member of the array arranged in offset rows and the display may further include light valves having color filters. Alternately, the light valves include color filters and the display may further include the array of multibeam diffraction gratings arranged in offset rows.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2021
    Assignee: LEIA INC.
    Inventor: David A. Fattal
  • Patent number: 11163187
    Abstract: Disclosed is a backlight unit including a light guide member including one side surface and the other side surface parallel to the one side surface, a light source module disposed on the one side surface of the light guide member, and a local dimming part disposed on the light guide member and including a liquid crystal layer, wherein the liquid crystal layer has an inclined surface disposed between the one side surface and the other side surface of the light guide member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 2, 2021
    Assignee: LG Display Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: YongJoong Yoon, JaeJung Han, JinRyun Kim
  • Patent number: 11048209
    Abstract: The invention relates to a display device, in particular a head-mounted display or a head-up display, for representing a two-dimensional and/or three-dimensional scene. The display device comprises a spatial light modulator device having pixels, and a beam offset device. The spatial light modulator device is illuminatable with light. The beam offset device is configured to be controllable in such a way that the light modulated by the pixels of the spatial light modulator device is laterally displaceable by less than one pixel extent.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 29, 2021
    Assignee: SEEREAL TECHNOLOGIES S.A.
    Inventors: Bo Kroll, Norbert Leister
  • Patent number: 10871643
    Abstract: A display panel includes: a first substrate; a second substrate disposed opposite to the first substrate; a waveguide layer disposed on a surface of the first substrate facing the second substrate for coupling incident light into the waveguide layer; a first electrode layer disposed on the waveguide layer, the first electrode layer including a plurality of independently controllable first electrodes; a second electrode layer disposed on a surface of the first substrate facing the second substrate; and a light emission control layer disposed between the first and the second electrode layers, the light emission control layer defining a plurality of sub-pixels arranged in an array. The light emission control layer controls respective amounts of light to be coupled out of the waveguide layer to respective ones of the plurality of sub-pixels based on respective voltages applied between the plurality of first electrodes and the second electrode layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 22, 2020
    Assignee: BOE TECHNOLOGY GROUP CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Jifeng Tan
  • Patent number: 10810917
    Abstract: A dual layer backlight employs a first planar backlight to emit light and a second planar backlight to provide a plurality of coupled-out light beams. The second planar backlight includes a plate light guide and a multibeam diffraction grating configured to diffractively couple out a portion of a guided light beam within the plate light guide as the plurality of coupled-out light beams. A light beam of the coupled-out light beam has a different principal angular direction from other light beams of the coupled-out light beam plurality. A two-dimensional/three-dimensional (2D/3D) mode-switchable electronic display includes the dual layer backlight and a light valve array configured to selectively modulate emitted light as 2D pixels in a first mode and the coupled-out light beams as 3D pixels corresponding to the different 3D views in a second mode of the electronic display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2020
    Assignee: LEIA INC.
    Inventor: David A. Fattal
  • Patent number: 10678044
    Abstract: A rotation-free beam-steering device for manipulating probing and reflected optical beams includes at least one electrowetting cell having at least one side wall defining an inner space. The at least one side wall has a lining adjacent to the inner space. A liquid at least partially fills the inner space. The liquid has at least one controlled surface not in contact with the wall lining. The liquid further has a contact angle with the wall lining. The at least one controlled surface is disposed to interface with an optical beam exiting from a distal end of an optical fiber at an incidence angle. At least two electrodes are provided separated from the inner space by the lining. An electrical potential on the at least two electrodes is controlled to adjust the contact angle of the liquid bounding the at least one controlled surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2020
    Assignee: Canon U.S.A., Inc.
    Inventors: Alexander Altshuler, Badr Elmaanaoui
  • Patent number: 10606144
    Abstract: Disclosed is a display apparatus includes: a flat display panel; and a liquid crystal lens, the liquid crystal lens being positioned in a light emergent direction of the display panel, the liquid crystal lens being used for converging light emitted by the display panel towards a center plane, and the center plane being perpendicular to the display panel and passing through a vertical center line of the display panel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2020
    Assignees: BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd., Beijing BOE Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Qian Wang, Xiaochuan Chen, Wenqing Zhao, Rui Xu, Lei Wang, Ming Yang, Pengcheng Lu, Jian Gao, Xiaochen Niu
  • Patent number: 10564504
    Abstract: A liquid-crystal variable retarder has first and second liquid-crystal cells with respective first and second thicknesses, the second thickness being less than the first thickness. A feedback sensor provides a feedback signal indicative of a retardance of the liquid-crystal variable retarder. A controller is coupled to the feedback sensor and the first and second liquid-crystal cells. The controller is operable to apply a first signal to the first liquid-crystal cell based on a target retardance trajectory and a feedforward control model. The controller applies a second signal to the second liquid-crystal cell based on the feedback signal and the target retardance trajectory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2020
    Assignee: Palo Alto Research Center Incorporated
    Inventor: Alex Hegyi
  • Patent number: 10247947
    Abstract: Certain exemplary embodiments can provide a system, machine, device, manufacture, circuit, composition of matter, and/or user interface adapted for and/or resulting from, and/or a method and/or machine-readable medium comprising machine-implementable instructions for, activities that can comprise and/or relate to, via light from a light source, rendering an image on a retina.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2019
    Assignee: e-Vision Smart Optics, Inc.
    Inventor: Anthony Van Heugten
  • Patent number: 10139668
    Abstract: A curved surface ADS display panel and a manufacturing method thereof are disclosed. The curved surface ADS display panel includes a first substrate; a second substrate facing the first substrate, wherein the second substrate has a first surface far away from the first substrate; a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between the first substrate and the second substrate; and a glass light guide plate completely adhered on the first surface of the second substrate. Also, the glass light guide plate has a thickness of D1, and the first substrate, the liquid crystal layer, and the second substrate have a total thickness of D2, wherein |D1?31 D2|/D1?30%.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2018
    Assignee: BOE TECHNOLOGY GROUP CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Xinxing Wang, Jikai Yao, Jaegeon You
  • Patent number: 10058404
    Abstract: A probe head for dental confocal imaging, comprises a light-guiding part for guiding a light beam towards a teeth portion, the light-guiding part having an entrance face through which the light beam enters the light-guiding part and an exit face through which the light beam exits the light-guiding part, wherein the light-guiding part is configured, in case of a linearly polarized light beam having two polarization components being perpendicular to each other, to change polarization of the linearly polarized light beam on its path through the light-guiding part in such a way that one of the two polarization components, compared to the other of the two polarization components, is retarded by an odd multiple of a quarter of a wavelength of the light beam along the path from the entrance face to the exit face.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2018
    Assignee: Align Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Yossef Atiya, Tal Verker
  • Patent number: 9998253
    Abstract: A wavelength selective switch (WSS) may include a front-end unit that includes an input few-mode fiber (FMF) providing an input optical signal including multiple wavelengths. The multiple wavelengths may each have N modes. The front-end unit may include two or more output few-mode fibers (FMFs), and a side that has a 1×N port for each of the input FMF and the two or more output FMFs. Each of the 1×N ports may be single mode in a wavelength dispersion dimension and N-mode in a switching dimension. The WSS may include a switching element to receive the input optical signal from the front-end unit, switch each of the multiple wavelengths of the input optical signal to form one or more output optical signals, and direct each of the one or more output optical signals to a corresponding 1×N port of the front-end unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2018
    Assignee: Lumentum Operations LLC
    Inventor: Paul Colbourne
  • Patent number: 9967050
    Abstract: The invention provides a low-cost and easy-to-align optical signal processing device on which a plurality of WSS function units can be integrated using only a single lens. Optical signals input to the first input/output port group (101-1) are output into a space as collimated light via the microlens array (102). The signal light propagating through the space will be wavelength-demultiplexed by the diffraction grating (103), focused by the lens (104), and focused at the upper part in the drawing, with respect to the y-axis direction of the spatial light modulator (105). The light provided with a desired phase modulation and reflected by the spatial light modulator (105) is deflected at a desired angle in the y-z plane according to its phase setting, and further optically coupled to an arbitrary port by passing through the lens (104) again, thus the switching operation is completed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2018
    Assignee: NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kazunori Seno, Kenya Suzuki, Yuichiro Ikuma, Yuzo Ishii, Koichi Hadama
  • Patent number: 9939592
    Abstract: A single-fiber bidirectional optical transceiver module of the same wavelength. A sub-wavelength grating and a Faraday rotator are used, and the same element is reused to implement a polarization multiplex/de-multiplex function, so as to implement transmission and receiving of an optical signal in a small space. The single-fiber bidirectional optical transceiver module has less optical elements, a compact structure, and low cost, meeting the needs on a miniaturized, integrated, and high speed optical transceiver module for a modern optical communication system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2018
    Assignee: XUZHOU XUHAI OPTO-ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Bo Chen, Guangzhi He, Xiangxiang Pang
  • Patent number: 9933620
    Abstract: Certain exemplary embodiments can provide a system, machine, device, manufacture, circuit, composition of matter, and/or user interface adapted for and/or resulting from, and/or a method and/or machine-readable medium comprising machine-implementable instructions for, activities that can comprise and/or relate to, via light from a light source, rendering an image on a retina.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2018
    Assignee: e-Vision Smart Optics, Inc.
    Inventor: Anthony Van Heugten
  • Patent number: 9807377
    Abstract: An auto-stereoscopic display device includes a display panel having an array of display pixels for producing a display; and a view forming unit having an array of view forming elements. Each view forming elements is configurable to focus the outputs of groups of the display pixels into views projected towards a user in different directions. The display device further includes a view deflecting unit to selectably change the directions in which the plurality of views is projected towards the user. The view deflecting unit includes at least one birefringent prism having a first refractive index for light having a first polarization direction and a second refractive index for light having a second polarization direction. The view deflecting unit further includes a polarization switch in registration with the birefringent prism for providing the birefringent prism with display light having the first or second polarization direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2017
    Assignee: KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V.
    Inventors: Martin Gerard Hendrik Hiddink, Siebe Tjerk De Zwart, Oscar Hendrikus Willemsen, Michel Cornelis Josephus Marie Vissenberg, Thomas Caspar Kraan, Marc Joseph Rita Op De Beeck, Remco Theodorus Johannes Muijs
  • Patent number: 9709829
    Abstract: An electrically variable lens comprising a variable Fresnel lens and a variable phase corrector plate. A liquid crystal variable Fresnel lens and liquid crystal phase corrector plate are varied in concert to compensate for wavefront discontinuities that would otherwise be produced by the Fresnel lens. The same principle is also used to provide a device capable of imposing an arbitrary spatial and temporal phase modulation on a wavefront.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2017
    Assignee: Vuzix Corporation
    Inventor: Stephen Paul McGrew
  • Patent number: 9703050
    Abstract: Light streams are routed. A transparent plate can be provided in which at least 2 waveguides converge on an active region, wherein the active region comprises a switching element, which can be utilized to extract a portion of the light stream or combine two or more wavelength portions for form a subsequent light stream. Cladding material constrains a light stream to a waveguide. Ion bombardment can be utilized to form micropores in the cladding material, and subsequent etching can enlarge the micropores to form larger diameter pores (of nanometer scale) in the switching element. The pores can be filled with liquid crystal, which can be in a passive state with a first refractive (RI) index, and a second active state (electrical voltage applied) with a second RI. By adjusting the RI. the light stream can be diverted by operations of refraction, diffraction, reflection, etc.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2017
    Assignee: CITY UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG
    Inventors: Hau Ping Chan, Valentine A. Tsvetkov, Wing Fat Ho
  • Patent number: 9588299
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus for optical wavelength selective switching. One 2×2 wavelength selective switch array includes a plurality of optical input ports configured to receive one or more optical input beams, and a plurality of optical output ports configured to receive one or more one or more optical output beams wherein the plurality of optical input ports and optical output ports form an array of 2×2 optical port pairs; one or more optical conditioning and wavelength dispersion elements; a polarization modulator array having a plurality of polarizing modulation cells, each cell configured to independently change a polarization orientation of an optical beam passing through the cell and associated with a particular wavelength channel; and a polarization-selective beam-routing optical element configured to route each particular input beam to either a first output port or a second output port according to polarization orientation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2017
    Assignee: Oplink Communications, Inc.
    Inventors: Hongwei Mao, Lifu Gong, Gongjian Hu, Guijun Ji, Tian Zhu, Kun Liu
  • Patent number: 9581859
    Abstract: An optical deflector which deflects incident light, includes an optical deflection element which deflects the incident light when a distribution of internal refraction indexes of the optical deflection element is modulated. The light incident on the optical deflection element is emitted from the optical deflection element after passing through the optical deflection element a plurality of times.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Assignee: PANASONIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shinichi Shikii, Keiji Sugiyama, Katsuhiko Hayashi
  • Patent number: 9500874
    Abstract: A liquid crystal optical element according to the present disclosure includes: a prism array composed of a plurality of prisms that have ridge lines extending in a first direction and are arranged in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction; a liquid crystal layer provided on the prism array; and an electrode via which a voltage is applied to the liquid crystal layer. When the voltage applied to the liquid crystal layer is 0 volt, long axes of liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer are oriented so as to be inclined at a predetermined angle relative to the first direction in a plane orthogonal to the second direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2016
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Katsuhiko Hayashi
  • Patent number: 9470953
    Abstract: An optical switch (10) is capable of routing a high-power beam incident at one or more input ports (12) of the optical switch to either of two or more output ports (14,16), the optical switch comprising: at least one switching stage, each of the at least one switching stages comprising: a switchable high-power liquid crystal (LC) half-wave plate (HWP), oriented with its fast axis at 45° to an input polarization direction such that in response to an incident polarized laser beam provided to said switchable high-power liquid crystal, half-wave plate, said HWP acts as a polarization rotator; and a polarizing beam splitter (PBS) disposed in an optical path to intercept light signals output from said switchable high-power liquid crystal (LC) half wave plate (HWP).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2016
    Assignee: Raytheon Company
    Inventors: Irl W. Smith, Terry A. Dorschner
  • Patent number: 9250457
    Abstract: A driver for a liquid crystal lens, an imaging apparatus and a temperature controlling method thereof, include: a liquid crystal lens which adjusts a focal length according to a voltage applied thereto; a lens driver which applies the voltage to the liquid crystal lens; a sensor driver which detects a temperature of the liquid crystal lens, compensates for the detected temperature, and determines whether the compensated temperatures maintains a preset range for the driver for the liquid crystal lens to perform a control operation; and a heater driver which, according to the determination by the sensor driver, controls heat generation of the liquid crystal lens to maintain a temperature of the liquid crystal lens in the preset range. Thus, the driver detects a temperature of the liquid crystal lens accurately by compensating for a resistance value from the liquid crystal lens to thereby maintain stability of the imaging apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2016
    Assignee: DONGWOON ANATECH CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Jung-wan Park, Jung-ho Jin, Eun-tack Oh
  • Patent number: 9239508
    Abstract: An optical device comprises: an optical structure including a first set of prisms and a second set of prisms which engage with each other, the second set of prisms are formed from electro-optical effect material or provided with electro-optical effect material, when no electric field is applied to the second set of prisms, the first set and the second set of prisms have the same refractivity; at least one pair of electrodes being provided at two sides of the second set of prisms respectively, for generating an electric field therebetween so as to change the refractivity of the second set of prisms in the direction of the electric field; and a control unit connected to the at least one pair of electrodes and performs control to power on the electrodes or power off the electrodes, and controls the intensity of the electric field when the electrodes are powered on.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 19, 2016
    Assignees: BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd., Chengdu BOE Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuanming Feng, Fan Li, Junrui Zhang
  • Patent number: 9046657
    Abstract: Through its higher refractive index, a silicon grism can be used to reduce the Described herein are systems and methods for reducing optical aberrations in an optical system to decrease polarization dependent loss. Embodiments are provided particularly to define beam trajectories through an optical switching system which reduce off-axis aberrations. In one embodiment, a silicon grism is provided for reducing the curvature of the focal plane at an LCOS device in a wavelength selective switch (WSS) such that the separated polarization states converge at the LCOS at substantially the same point along the optical axis for all wavelengths. In this embodiment, an axial offset at the LCOS device will not produce large PDL at the coupling fibers. In another embodiment, a coupling lens having an arcuate focusing region is provided to address an offset in the optical beams, such that the separated polarization states couple symmetrically to respective output fibers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2015
    Assignee: Finisar Corporation
    Inventors: Luke Stewart, Glenn Wayne Baxter
  • Patent number: 9041897
    Abstract: An optical switch for performing high extinction ratio switching of an optical signal includes a beam polarizing element and one or more optical elements. The optical elements are configured to direct an optical signal along a first or second optical path based on the polarization state of the optical signal as it passes through the optical elements. The optical switch performs high extinction ratio switching of the optical signal by preventing unwanted optical energy from entering an output port by using an absorptive or reflective optical element or by directing the unwanted optical energy along a different optical path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 26, 2015
    Assignee: II-VI Incorporated
    Inventors: Haijun Yuan, Xuehua Wu, Christopher Lin, Giovanni Barbarossa
  • Patent number: 9025094
    Abstract: A wavelength selective switch device includes an incidence part where wavelength multiplexed light made of light of a plurality of wavelengths enters, an exit part that includes a plurality of fiber that outputs light of a wavelength selected from a signal in which wavelength multiplexed light that entered from the incidence part enters, a polarization diversity part that separates incidence light that entered the incidence part according to polarization components of the incidence light to make first and second optical beams, a wavelength dispersion and synthesis element that spatially disperses incidence light according to a wavelength of the incidence light and multiplexes the spatially dispersed reflected light according to the wavelength, and a wavelength dispersion and synthesis element that spatially disperses incidence light according to a wavelength of the incidence light and multiplexes the spatially dispersed reflected light according to the wavelength.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2015
    Assignee: Santec Corporation
    Inventor: Yasuki Sakurai
  • Patent number: 8989535
    Abstract: In embodiments of a multiple waveguide imaging structure, an imaging structure includes a first waveguide for see-through viewing of an environment at a first field of view, and includes a second waveguide for see-through viewing of the environment at a second field of view. The first and second waveguides each include a polarizing beam splitter to reflect light that enters at a first polarization orientation angle in the respective first and second waveguides, and the polarizing beam splitters pass through the light that enters at a second polarization orientation angle. The imaging structure also includes a polarization switch to rotate the polarization of the light through the first and second polarization orientation angles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2015
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventor: Steven John Robbins
  • Patent number: 8917375
    Abstract: Embodiments of a grey-scale holographic structure and system for generating a collimated wavefront in a compact range are generally described herein. In some embodiments, the grey-scale holographic structure comprising millimeter-wave transmissive material having a surface arranged to provide differing amounts of phase-delay to an incident millimeter-wave wavefront as the incident wavefront passes through the material. The grey-scale holographic structure may comprises a plurality of layers (N) to provide a phase total delay of lambda which results from a series tuned layers, each having a thickness of a wavelength/N. Each layer provides a predetermined amount of phase delay allowing the structure to operate as a phase-delay hologram.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 23, 2014
    Assignee: Raytheon Company
    Inventor: Rigel Quinn Woida-O'Brien
  • Publication number: 20140313469
    Abstract: An optical switch includes an array of parallel few-mode fibers stacked vertically; beam stretchers that modifies an aspect ratio between a height and a width of beams associated with each few-mode fiber; a spatial light modulator with a 2D array of independently programmed tunable pixels, wherein the spatial light modulator manipulates phase and/or amplitude at each position of an incident optical beam; a wavelength demultiplexer which can separate the spectral components of an incident beam in angle; and lenses for imaging the modes of the input array of fiber to the spatial light modulator.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 2, 2014
    Publication date: October 23, 2014
    Applicant: NEC Laboratories America, Inc.
    Inventor: Ezra Ip
  • Patent number: 8867016
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, for optical switching. In one aspect, a wavelength selective switch includes one or more optical input ports; one or more optical output ports; a first optical wavelength dispersion element configured to separate the plurality of wavelength channels of the input optical beam; a second optical wavelength dispersion element configured to combine two or more separate optical beams each having one or more different wavelengths, into a combined beam having the plurality of wavelength channels; a polarization modulator array configured to independently change a polarization orientation of an optical beam passing through; optical components for directing optical beams corresponding to respective wavelength channels to different polarizing modulation cells; and a polarization beam splitter configured to route received optical beams to particular output paths according to polarization orientation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 21, 2014
    Assignee: Oplink Communications, Inc.
    Inventors: Hongwei Mao, Lifu Gong, Tian Zhu, Jian Liu
  • Patent number: 8854597
    Abstract: An optical switching device has multiple input ports and multiple output ports and is capable of switching a wavelength component from any of the input ports to any of the output ports. The optical switching device is configured with beam steering arrays that are controlled to provide the switching from any of the input ports to any of the output ports. The beam steering arrays may be microelectromechanical (MEMS) mirror arrays or liquid-crystal on silicon (LCOS) panels. In addition, an array of beam-polarizing liquid-crystal elements provides wavelength-independent attenuation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 7, 2014
    Assignee: Finisar Corporation
    Inventors: Manish Sharma, Gil Cohen
  • Publication number: 20140204330
    Abstract: An example embodiment includes a LCOS IC. The LCOS IC includes multiple pixels, a column driver, and multiple conductive lines. The pixels are arranged in a pixel array. The column driver is configured to supply multiple signals to a column of pixels included in the pixel array. Each of the conductive lines couples the column driver to a subset of pixels in the column of pixels. The conductive lines are configured such that two or more of the signals can be supplied to two or more of the subsets of pixels with some overlapping duration.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 24, 2013
    Publication date: July 24, 2014
    Applicant: FINISAR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Jonathan B. Ashbrook, Nicholas F. Jungels