Laminated Or Layered Patents (Class 359/576)
  • Patent number: 11892651
    Abstract: An optoelectronic component includes an optoelectronic semiconductor chip configured to emit electromagnetic radiation; an optically effective element arranged such that electromagnetic radiation emitted by the optoelectronic semiconductor chip passes through the optically effective element; and a housing, wherein the optoelectronic semiconductor chip is arranged in a cavity of the housing, the optically effective element includes a carrier, a first optically effective structure arranged on a top side of the carrier, and a cover arranged above the first optically effective structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2024
    Assignee: OSRAM OLED GmbH
    Inventors: Roland Enzmann, Hubert Halbritter, Markus Arzberger, Andreas Ploessl, Roland Schulz, Georg Rossbach, Bernd Boehm, Frank Singer, Matthias Sabathil
  • Patent number: 11815705
    Abstract: Optical thin film designs are provided that achieve significantly improved laser damage thresholds and ultra-low-loss. These advances may be achieved by utilizing materials with electronic band gaps and refractive indices that are higher than those that are conventionally used.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2023
    Assignee: Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC
    Inventor: Hoang T Nguyen
  • Patent number: 11650372
    Abstract: An optical coupler device for coupling light with a light guide is provided. The device includes a first layer having a plurality of first diffraction gratings spaced apart via first trenches, the first diffraction gratings and the first trenches forming first periodic units. The device also includes a second layer having a plurality of second diffraction gratings spaced apart via second trenches, the second diffraction gratings and the second trenches forming second periodic units. Additionally, the second periodic units are offset in a lateral axis of the optical coupler device relative to the first periodic units by a relative shift distance S2 that is in a range from about 10 nm to about 600 nm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2023
    Assignee: Corning Incorporated
    Inventors: Horst Herbert Anton Schreiber, Bin Wang
  • Patent number: 11603457
    Abstract: Provided is a curable composition including oxide particles that include at least indium and tin, and to which a ligand having a hydrocarbon group and a binding site to the oxide particles is bonded; and a polymerizable compound, in which a content of the oxide particles in the composition is 18 mass % or more with respect to a total solid content of the composition; and a cured product of the curable composition or a lens unit including the cured product.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2023
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventors: Masashi Ono, Masahiro Takata, Takeharu Tani
  • Patent number: 11327209
    Abstract: In a diffractive optical element including a base material, a first resin layer having a diffraction grating shape including plural concentric ring bands, and a second resin layer containing an inorganic particle, the inorganic particle is adjusted to have a number mean particle diameter of 10 nm or less, a first peak in a region in which particle diameters are 2 nm or more and 7.9 nm or less, and a second peak in a region in which particle diameters are larger than those of the first peak in a grain size distribution on a volumetric basis, with the ratio of the maximum intensity of the second peak to the maximum intensity of the first peak being 0.3 or more and 0.8 or less in a grain size distribution.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yuuta Tsuruki, Emi Oishi, Hideo Ukuda
  • Patent number: 11287667
    Abstract: A spatial filtering apparatus includes a composite filter including first filter patterns respectively having a first phase profile, and second filter patterns respectively having a second phase profile, wherein the first filter patterns and the second filter patterns overlap with each other, wherein first light in a first polarization direction that is emitted on the composite filter is first spatially filtered by the first filter patterns, and wherein second light in a second polarization direction that is emitted on the composite filter is second spatially filtered by the second filter patterns.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Assignees: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD., CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
    Inventors: Duhyun Lee, Andrei Faraon
  • Patent number: 11204453
    Abstract: A diffractive optical element prevents degradation of the optical performance of the element due to moisture absorption of the resin layers from taking place and also can prevent cracks of the resin layers and peeling of the resin layers along the interface thereof from taking place in a hot environment or in a cold environment. The diffractive optical element comprises a first layer and a second layer sequentially laid on a substrate, a diffraction grating being formed at the interface of the first layer and the second layer, the height d of the diffraction grating, the average film thickness t1 of the first layer and the average film thickness t2 of the second layer satisfying the relationship requirements expressed by the expressions of 1.1×d?t1?50 ?m and 30 ?m?t2?(400 ?m?t1?d).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 21, 2021
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Maiko Niwa
  • Patent number: 11003289
    Abstract: Flexible touch sensor panels can be implemented on a strap of a wearable device. A flexible touch sensor panel can provide an additional touch sensitive surface for a user to activate functions on the wearable device without covering a touch screen of the wearable device. In some examples, the flexible touch sensor panels can include electrode connectors configured to electrically couple touch electrodes of the flexible touch sensor panel. In some examples, the electrode connectors can have a serpentine routing pattern configured to allow the touch electrodes to move closer together or farther apart while maintaining electrical coupling between the touch electrodes. In some examples, the touch electrodes can have gaps configured to allow light to pass through the gaps. In some examples, an LED panel can be formed below or one or more waveguide layers can be formed above the flexible touch sensor panel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Yung-Yu Hsu, Mingjing Ha, Paul S. Drzaic, David W. Lum, Bryce T. Bradford, Shubham Gandhi
  • Patent number: 10890772
    Abstract: Waveguide enhanced resonant diffraction is provided in grating structures having negligible non-resonant diffraction by the grating. This is done by making the grating thickness much less than any relevant wavelength, and by having the grating in proximity to a waveguide for diffractive coupling to and from a mode of the waveguide. Material absorption in the grating material can be used to suppress undesired diffraction orders. The resulting structures can provide rainbow-free diffractive optical sampling.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2021
    Assignee: The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University
    Inventors: Jung-Hwan Song, Mark L. Brongersma
  • Patent number: 10852544
    Abstract: An optical structure includes a first refractive layer, a Fresnel surface, a dichroic reflective coating, a third refractive layer, and a replica layer. The first refractive layer has a first refractive index. The Fresnel surface is formed in a second refractive layer having a second refractive index. The Fresnel surface includes active surfaces and draft surfaces. The dichroic reflective coating is selectively disposed on the active surfaces. The replica layer is disposed between the Fresnel surface and the third refractive layer. The replica layer has the second refractive index and the second refractive index is higher than the first refractive index.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2020
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Qi Zhang, Robin Sharma, Andrew John Ouderkirk
  • Patent number: 10845538
    Abstract: A diffraction grating with independently controlled diffraction angles for optical beams at different wavelengths may be used to redirect and couple light to a waveguide in an efficient, space-saving manner. The diffraction grating can include a layer with optical permittivity and associated index contrast of the grating grooves at different grating periods dependent on wavelength.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2020
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Erik Shipton, Bharath Bangalore Rajeeva
  • Patent number: 10732417
    Abstract: Disclosed is an improved diffraction structure for 3D display systems. The improved diffraction structure includes an intermediate layer that resides between a waveguide substrate and a top grating surface. The top grating surface comprises a first material that corresponds to a first refractive index value, the underlayer comprises a second material that corresponds to a second refractive index value, and the substrate comprises a third material that corresponds to a third refractive index value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2020
    Assignee: Magic Leap, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert D. Tekolste, Michael A. Klug, Paul M. Greco, Brian T. Schowengerdt
  • Patent number: 10712585
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure provide an optical grating and a 3D display device having the same. The optical grating comprises a plurality of grating units arranged from a center of the optical grating towards two sides thereof, values of grating periods of a plurality of said grating units on either side of the center being non-linearly decreased progressively from the center to the side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2020
    Assignee: BOE TECHNOLOGY GROUP CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Guobing Yin, Jiyang Shao, Min Peng, Xingdong Liu, Yuting Zhang
  • Patent number: 10670875
    Abstract: A diffractive optical element 10 includes a first diffraction grating 4, a second diffraction grating 5, films 6 formed between the first diffraction grating 4 and the second diffraction grating 5. The DOE 10 satisfies a conditional expression of n2<n1<nha, where nha is an average refractive index of films 6b formed between grating wall surfaces 4b and grating wall surfaces 5b at a wavelength of 550 nm, n1 is a refractive index of the first diffraction grating 4 at a wavelength of 550 nm, and n2 is a refractive index of the second diffraction grating 5 at a wavelength of 550 nm. The films 6b and films 6a that are formed between grating surfaces 4a and grating surfaces 5a satisfy a predetermined relationship.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2020
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Mikio Kobayashi, Reona Ushigome
  • Patent number: 10642086
    Abstract: The invention provides an optical film for improving image quality of a liquid crystal display comprising: a light directing structure layer, a first filling layer, a plurality of first diffraction gratings and a second filling layer. The light directing structure layer comprises a plurality of light directing micro structures, wherein the ratio of height to width of each light directing micro structure is in the range of 1.5 to 6. The first filling layer is disposed on the light directing structure layer, and the refractive index of the first filling layer and the light directing structure layer are different. The first diffraction gratings along with a first direction are formed on the first filling layer. The second filling layer is disposed on the first diffraction gratings and the refractive index of the second filling layer and the first diffraction gratings are different.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2020
    Assignee: BenQ Materials Corporation
    Inventors: Chen-Kuan Kuo, Cyun-Tai Hong, Chuen-Nan Shen, Meng-Jie Lin, Chia-Feng Lin, Meng-Chia Cheng
  • Patent number: 10598833
    Abstract: A display includes a transparent base having one surface on which a structure-forming layer, a light reflection layer and a protective layer are sequentially laminated. The light reflection layer reflects part of the incident light, while transmitting therethrough the rest of the light. The structure-forming layer includes a plurality of structure areas, and each of the plurality of structure areas is formed of a concavo-convex structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2020
    Assignee: TOPPAN PRINTING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Toshiyuki Tsukahara, Koichi Shinoda, Takayoshi Hayashi
  • Patent number: 10545269
    Abstract: A diffractive optical element prevents degradation of the optical performance of the element due to moisture absorption of the resin layers from taking place and also can prevent cracks of the resin layers and peeling of the resin layers along the interface thereof from taking place in a hot environment or in a cold environment. The diffractive optical element comprises a first layer and a second layer sequentially laid on a substrate, a diffraction grating being formed at the interface of the first layer and the second layer, the height d of the diffraction grating, the average film thickness t1 of the first layer and the average film thickness t2 of the second layer satisfying the relationship requirements expressed by the expressions of 1.1×d?t1?50 ?m and 30 ?m?t2?(400 ?m?t1?d).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2020
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Maiko Niwa
  • Patent number: 10539291
    Abstract: An illumination apparatus includes a reflective shell, a front cover, a light-emitting device, and a plurality of optical micro-structures. The front cover is connected to the reflective shell. A containing space is formed between the reflective shell and the front cover. The light-emitting device is disposed in the containing space and is configured to emit a light beam. The optical micro-structures are disposed on at least one of the reflective shell and the front cover. Each of the optical micro-structures is a multilayer stair-structure. The optical micro-structures diffuse the light beam by refraction and reflection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2020
    Assignees: LITE-ON ELECTRONICS (GUANGZHOU) LIMITED, Lite-On Technology Corporation
    Inventor: Kuan-Yu Chen
  • Patent number: 10488819
    Abstract: The invention relates to a multilayer body with a volume hologram layer and a partial opaque layer, arranged on a surface of the volume hologram layer, which is present in a first area and is not present in a second area. The invention furthermore relates to a method for the production of such a multilayer body, as well as a security element and security document with such a multilayer body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2019
    Assignee: LEONHARD KURZ STIFTUNG & CO. KG
    Inventors: Klaus Pforte, Ludwig Brehm
  • Patent number: 10315371
    Abstract: Methods for improving the manufacturing of optical gratings and surface relief grating structures are described. An optical grating may be formed by spin coating a liquid monomer solution that includes a solvent, a liquid monomer, and a nanoparticle filler with a higher refractive index than the liquid monomer on a substrate. The optical grating may be formed by pressing a mold that includes nanostructures on its surface into the liquid monomer to form gratings and then hardening the liquid monomer while the mold is held within the liquid monomer. After the mold has been pressed into the liquid monomer, two regions within the liquid monomer may be formed: a first region that includes the gratings and that does not include nanoparticles (or that includes less than a threshold number of nanoparticles) and a second region arranged below the gratings that includes nanoparticles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2019
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Valtteri Kalima, Mervi Ylä-Jarkko, Juha Pietarinen
  • Patent number: 10135033
    Abstract: An organic light emitting diode (OLED) incorporating a light extraction film is disclosed. The light extraction film may be used for enhancing light extraction from a light source. The light extraction film may include an array of 3-D microprisms, an interstitial region, and a glass layer. Each microprism may have an area of a first surface (A1) and an area of a second surface (A2). The A2 may be equal to or less than A1. Each microprism may have a pair of oppositely disposed sidewalls. The interstitial region may be disposed between the pair of oppositely disposed sidewalls of adjacent microprisms. The interstitial region may have an index of refraction less than an index of refraction of the microprism. The glass layer may be attached to the first surface of the array of 3-D microprisms. The glass layer may be less than about 1 mm thick.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 20, 2018
    Assignee: Corning Incorporated
    Inventors: Tomohiro Ishikawa, Michal Mlejnek
  • Patent number: 10133077
    Abstract: In a luminous flux diameter expanding element, a light guide body includes an incident-side diffraction grating (first incident-side diffraction grating) provided on a surface thereof and an exit-side diffraction grating (first exit-side diffraction grating) provided on another surface thereof. The incident-side diffraction grating and the exit-side diffraction grating have the same grating direction and the same grating period. The diffraction angle of a positive first-order diffracted light and the diffraction angle of a negative first-order diffracted light of a beam incident on the incident-side diffraction grating are greater than or equal to a critical angle determined by the refractive index of the light guide body. The positive first-order diffracted light and the negative first-order diffracted light of the beam diffracted by the incident-side diffraction grating propagate in opposite directions along a y-direction within the light guide body and are emitted from the exit-side diffraction grating.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 20, 2018
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Osamu Yokoyama
  • Patent number: 10126485
    Abstract: An optical film includes a transparent substrate, an optical material comprising quantum dots disposed over a surface of the substrate, and a light diffusion film disposed over the optical material, the light diffusion film including a transparent support and a diffusion layer formed over the transparent support, the light diffusion film being positioned such that the transparent support is between the optical material and the diffusion layer, the light diffusion film having a back to front haze value of at least 80% and a total back to front light transmission value of at least 50%. Other layers can optionally be included in the optical film. A backlight unit and display including the optical film taught herein are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2018
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Matthew Stevenson, John R. Linton, Karthik Venkataraman
  • Patent number: 10120198
    Abstract: A directional backlight is disclosed. The directional backlight has a plurality of light sources to generate a plurality of input planar lightbeams. The plurality of input planar lightbeams illuminates a directional backplane that has a plurality of directional pixels to scatter the plurality of input planar lightbeams into a plurality of directional lightbeams. Each directional lightbeam has a direction and angular spread controlled by characteristics of a directional pixel in the plurality of directional pixels. The directional backlight can be used to generate a 3D image by specifying the characteristics of the directional pixels in the directional backplane.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2018
    Assignee: LEIA INC.
    Inventors: Charles M. Santori, David A. Fattal, Marco Fiorentino, James A. Brug, Zhen Peng
  • Patent number: 9869879
    Abstract: An objective lens (OL) according to the present invention comprises, in order from an object side, a first lens group (G1) having positive refractive power, and a second lens group (G2) having negative refractive power. The first lens group (G1) comprises a positive meniscus lens (L1) having a concave surface facing the object side, a positive lens (L2) dispose close to an image of the positive meniscus lens (L1), and a diffractive optical element (DOE) having a diffractive optical surface (D). The second lens group (G2) is composed of three cemented lenses (CL21 to CL23) which are configured with a positive lens and a negative lens cemented each other. When d00 denotes a distance from the object side to the positive meniscus lens (L1), and TL0 denotes a distance from the object side to the objective lens rear end surface, 0.11?d00/TL0?0.19 is satisfied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2018
    Assignee: Nikon Corporation
    Inventors: Miho Matsumoto, Kotaro Yamaguchi
  • Patent number: 9608173
    Abstract: The invention relates to reducing effect of light that is emitted from a light-emitting element and then enters between a base and a frame member. A light-emitting device (1) includes a base (11), a frame member (12) and a light-emitting element (13). The light-emitting device (1) further includes an intervening layer (14). The frame member (12) is disposed on the base (11). The light-emitting element (13) is made of a semiconductor material. The light-emitting element (13) is disposed in a region defined by the frame member (12), and mounted on the base (11). The intervening layer (14) contains a plurality of light transmitting particles (14-2) and is disposed between the base (11) and the frame member (12).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2017
    Assignee: KYOCERA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tamio Kusano, Daisuke Sakumoto
  • Patent number: 9557455
    Abstract: An optical element formed by stacking each of two resin layers on a glass substrate, wherein when the second resin layer of the two resin layers counting from the glass substrate is formed, an external circumferential part of the second resin layer is formed so as to be located inward of the outer circumferential part of the first resin layer, which is located closer to the glass substrate than the second resin layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2017
    Assignee: Nikon Corporation
    Inventor: Toshihiko Kurata
  • Patent number: 9459461
    Abstract: A directional backlight is disclosed. The directional backlight has a plurality of light sources to generate a plurality of input planar lightbeams. The plurality of input planar lightbeams illuminates a directional backplane that has a plurality of directional pixels to scatter the plurality of input planar lightbeams into a plurality of directional lightbeams. Each directional lightbeam has a direction and angular spread controlled by characteristics of a directional pixel in the plurality of directional pixels. The directional backlight can be used to generate a 3D image by specifying the characteristics of the directional pixels in the directional backplane.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2016
    Assignee: LEIA INC.
    Inventors: Charles M. Santori, David A. Fattal, Marco Fiorentino, James A. Brug, Zhen Peng
  • Patent number: 9417366
    Abstract: An integrated optical device that combines a diffractive optical element (DOE) to provide beam combining for coherent beams and a spectral beam combination (SBC) grating for combining beams of differing wavelengths. The device includes a substrate where a periodic pattern for the DOE is formed in the top surface of the substrate in a first direction. A plurality of reflective layers are deposited on the substrate over the periodic pattern so that the layers follow the shape of the pattern. A top dielectric layer is deposited on the plurality of reflective layers so that the top dielectric layer also follows the shape of the periodic pattern. A periodic grating for the SBC is formed into the top dielectric layer in a second direction substantially orthogonal to the first direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2016
    Assignee: Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation
    Inventor: Joshua E. Rothenberg
  • Patent number: 9383487
    Abstract: A laminated diffractive optical element including a colorant-containing first layer having a diffraction grating surface with a grating height X and a second layer closely stacked on the diffraction grating surface of the first layer, wherein the relation of internal transmittances T?, a and T?, b of a material (a) for forming the first layer and a material (b) for forming the second layer satisfies the following (Formula 1) and the relation of the maximum and minimum internal transmittances T?, MAX and T?, MIN of the laminated diffractive optical element satisfies the following Formula (2): 2.0%?|T?,a?T?,b|??(Formula 1) T?,MAX?T?,MIN?8.0%??(Formula 2) This reduces shading on the image surface resulting from the difference in transmittance of the optical element to provide a laminated diffractive optical element having reduced variation in transmittance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2016
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hidefumi Iwasa, Hideo Ukuda
  • Patent number: 9291753
    Abstract: In a diffraction optical element having a structure in which a base and an optical adjustment layer adhere to each other, defects such as cracks and peeling occur in the optical adjustment layer, when the adhesive strength between the base and the optical adjustment layer is degraded. In a diffraction optical element 100 of the present invention, a plurality of anchor grooves 3 are formed in a planar second region 6 of a base 1. Further, a depth of an anchor groove of the plurality of anchor grooves 3, which is positioned on an outermost side, is designed so as to be smaller than a depth of another anchor groove of the plurality of anchor grooves 3, which is positioned on an innermost side. An optical adjustment layer 9 adheres so as to cover a first region 5 in which a diffraction grating 2 is formed and the second region 6 in which the anchor grooves 3 are formed of the base 1.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 22, 2016
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tatsutoshi Suenaga, Yuka Okada, Akiko Murata
  • Patent number: 9285519
    Abstract: A double-sided grating divider acts as a light switch where the upper and lower grating dividers are arranged to accommodate a relative lateral shift therebetween of about one-fourth of the period of the diffraction grating elements and where the critical refraction angles of the grating dividers are more than about 43.6°. Lateral shift may be achieved by various devices including MEMS and metal couplers having a known/calibrated thermal coefficient of expansion over a temperature range of interest.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2016
    Assignees: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc., The Trustess of the University of Pennsylvania
    Inventors: Hideo Iizuka, Nader Engheta
  • Patent number: 9285518
    Abstract: A diffractive optical element made by adhering a first diffractive grating and a second diffractive grating to each other, each of which has a blazed structure. At least one of the first and second diffractive gratings is made of a material having a refractive index distribution in a plane normal direction, and the predetermined expressions are satisfied for a wavelength ? in a visible wavelength range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2016
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Reona Ushigome
  • Patent number: 9221246
    Abstract: A method is provided by the invention for printing surface applied images to a thermoplastic substrate to provide improved durability to the printed image. A thermoplastic substrate comprises in a predetermined area a pattern, preferably a cell pattern, of recessed image receiving surfaces below a nominal surface of the thermoplastic substrate and a pattern of bridges separating the recessed image receiving surfaces, the depths of the recessed image receiving surfaces and the areas of the bridges separating the recessed image receiving surfaces, relative to the areas of the recessed image receiving surfaces, chosen to provide durability to the image after the image has been printed onto the predetermined area. The image may be printed by ink jet printing. To additionally provide security features to the security instrument, latent and hidden images may be formed by latent image recesses and hidden image recesses, respectively, below the nominal surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2015
    Assignee: CANADIAN BANK NOTE COMPANY, LIMITED
    Inventors: David N. C. Cruikshank, Larry O'Gorman, Sean Connelly
  • Patent number: 9035406
    Abstract: An optical system has a first relief-type diffraction grating fiducial, or alignment mark, on a transparent surface of a first optical wafer or plate, the grating arranged to deflect light away from an optical path and appear black. The first wafer may have lenses. The first fiducial is aligned to another fiducial on a second wafer having further optical devices as part of system assembly; or the fiducials are aligned to alignment marks or fiducials on an underlying photosensor. Once the optical devices are aligned and the wafers bonded, they are diced to provide aligned optical structures for a completed camera system. Alternatively, an optical wafer is made by aligning a second relief-type diffraction grating fiducial on a first master to a first relief-type diffraction grating fiducial on an optical wafer preform, pressing the first master into a blob to form optical shapes and adhere the blob to the optical wafer preform.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2015
    Assignee: OmniVision Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Goran M. Rauker, George C. Barnes, IV
  • Publication number: 20150116830
    Abstract: A microscope objective lens includes a first lens group, a second lens group, and a third lens group. The first lens group includes a positive lens component having a lens surface positioned nearest the object side and having a negative refractive power and at least one cemented lens component having a combined positive refractive power. The second lens group includes a diffractive optical element that joins two diffractive element components made from different optical materials and has a diffractive optical surface on which diffractive grating grooves are formed on the bonded surface of the two diffractive element components, and at least one cemented lens component. The third lens group includes at least one achromatic lens component having a combined negative refractive power, and a lens surface of the third lens group nearest the image side is arranged so that a concave surface of the lens surface faces the image side.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 30, 2014
    Publication date: April 30, 2015
    Applicant: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Toshi TAEKO, Miyagawa AKIKO
  • Publication number: 20150109673
    Abstract: A microscope objective lens includes a first lens group, a second lens group, and a third lens group. The first lens group includes a positive lens component having a lens surface positioned nearest to the object side and having a negative refractive power. The second lens group includes a diffractive optical element that joins two diffractive element components respectively made from different optical materials and which has a diffractive optical surface on which diffractive grating grooves are formed on the bonded surface of the two diffractive element components. The third lens group includes at least one achromatic lens component having a negative refractive power, and a lens surface of the third lens group nearest to the image side is arranged so that a concave surface of the lens surface faces the image side.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 30, 2014
    Publication date: April 23, 2015
    Applicant: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Toshi TAEKO, Miyagawa Akiko
  • Patent number: 9013794
    Abstract: A dispersive optical device with a three-dimensional photonic crystal. The object is to obtain a device having a high damage threshold on the whole and the making of which is facilitated and guaranteeing optimum optical properties. This object is achieved by using a device in silica including a three-dimensional photonic crystal and a diffraction grating. This device may notably be used in a compressor system for a short pulse.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2015
    Assignees: Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
    Inventors: Jerome Neauport, Nicolas Bonod
  • Patent number: 9007686
    Abstract: The present invention relates to the creation of a diffractive element that has a high degree of wavefront flatness. The diffractive element has a flat functional substrate with a first side, whereby a fine structure is arranged on or in this first side, and whereby the first side of this functional substrate is arranged on a flat carrier substrate, whereby the carrier substrate has a higher degree of rigidity than the functional substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2015
    Assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
    Inventors: Ernst-Bernhard Kley, Uwe Detlef Zeitner
  • Patent number: 8982437
    Abstract: A hologram recording film manufacturing method includes the steps of obtaining a laminated structure by alternately laminating M (where M?2) photosensitive material precursor layers including a photosensitive material and at least one (M?1) resin layer on one another, obtaining M photosensitive material layers, where at least two interference fringes with a desired pitch and a desired slant angle are formed on each of the M photosensitive material layers, from the M photosensitive material precursor layers by irradiating the laminated structure with a reference laser light beam and an object laser light beam, and making the slant angles of the M photosensitive material layers different from each other while retaining the pitch value, which is defined on a face of the photosensitive material layer, by irradiating the laminated structure with an energy ray from the laminated structure's one face side, and heating the laminated structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2015
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Mieko Kuwahara, Takuji Yoshida, Katsuyuki Akutsu
  • Patent number: 8976450
    Abstract: A light switch (or valve) made up of two mutually inverted, substantially identical diffraction gratings with a liquid medium therebetween, arranged to allow the grating substrates to be shifted laterally relative to one another so as to align and mis-align the grating elements. When aligned, incident-polarized light passes through the switch and when misaligned, light does not pass through the switch but is reflected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2015
    Assignees: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc., The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania
    Inventors: Hideo Iizuka, Nader Engheta, Hisayoshi Fujikawa
  • Patent number: 8970955
    Abstract: The present invention discloses a method for manufacturing a zero-order diffractive filter comprising a high-index material having an upper surface and a lower surface. The high-index material is positioned between a first low-index matter and a second low-index matter; the lower surface is adjacent to said first low-index matter and the upper surface is adjacent to the second low-index matter. Moreover, the high-index material has an index of refraction that is higher than the index of refraction of both said first low-index matter and said second low-index matter. The method comprises at least the following procedure: selectively providing, by employing at least one wet-coating technique, at least one of the following at least partially: the high-index material onto said first low-index matter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2015
    Assignee: CSEM Centre Suisse d'Electronique et de Microtechnique SA—Recherche et Developpement
    Inventors: Harald Walter, Alexander Stuck
  • Publication number: 20150043078
    Abstract: Provided is a zoom lens having, in order from an object: a first lens group (G1) having positive refractive power; a second lens group (G2) having negative refractive power; and a third lens group (G3) having positive refractive power. The first lens group (G1) and the third lens group (G3) respectively move toward the object upon zooming from the wide-angle end state to the telephoto end state. The first lens group (G1) includes a diffraction optical element (DOE) in which two optical elements, constituted by optical materials of which refractive index difference at the d-line is 0.45 or less, are cemented and a diffraction optical surface (corresponding to the optical surface with the radius of curvature R8 in FIG. 1) on which diffraction grating grooves are formed, exists on the interface of the two optical elements. The zoom lens satisfies the following conditional expressions: 0.05<?1/ft<1.00, and 3.0<?d/y<10.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 24, 2014
    Publication date: February 12, 2015
    Inventor: Kenzaburo SUZUKI
  • Publication number: 20150036218
    Abstract: An integrated optical device that combines a diffractive optical element (DOE) to provide beam combining for coherent beams and a spectral beam combination (SBC) grating for combining beams of differing wavelengths. The device includes a substrate where a periodic pattern for the DOE is formed in the top surface of the substrate in a first direction. A plurality of reflective layers are deposited on the substrate over the periodic pattern so that the layers follow the shape of the pattern. A top dielectric layer is deposited on the plurality of reflective layers so that the top dielectric layer also follows the shape of the periodic pattern. A periodic grating for the SBC is formed into the top dielectric layer in a second direction substantially orthogonal to the first direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 30, 2013
    Publication date: February 5, 2015
    Applicant: NORTHROP GRUMMAN SYSTEMS CORPORATION
    Inventor: Joshua E. Rothenberg
  • Patent number: 8941923
    Abstract: A diffractive optical element includes a first diffraction grating and a second diffraction grating which are made of materials different from each other and are stacked in an optical axis direction, and a thin film which is arranged at least part of an interface between the first diffraction grating and the second diffraction grating, includes a single layer or multiple layers made of a material different from that of each of the first and second diffraction gratings, and is transparent to light of a working wavelength range. nd1<nd2 and 0.5<nd3?nd2<0.8 are satisfied, where nd1 is a refractive index of the material of the first diffraction grating to d-line, nd2 is a refractive index of the material of the second diffraction grating to the d-line, and nd3 is a maximum refractive index of the material of one layer of the thin film to the d-line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 27, 2015
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Reona Ushigome
  • Patent number: 8936363
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a polarizing lens molded by inserting a polarizing sheet bent into a sphere or an asphere after having an aromatic polycarbonate sheet bonded via an adhesive layer to both surfaces of a film with polarized nature into a mold, and injecting aromatic polycarbonate, wherein heat treatment at a temperature not less than a temperature of 50° C. lower than the glass transition point and less than the glass transition point for an appropriate time has been performed after injecting aromatic polycarbonate to approximate a designed value of the lens curvature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 20, 2015
    Assignees: Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company, Inc., MGC Filsheet Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Terutaka Tokumaru, Katsunori Suzuki, Ken Shimomai, Masaki Yagoura, Kyousuke Nakamura, Akio Ohkubo
  • Patent number: 8934743
    Abstract: A light-receiving device of the present disclosure includes a light-trapping sheet, and a photoelectric conversion section optically coupled thereto. The light-trapping sheet includes: a light-transmitting sheet; and a plurality of light-coupling structures arranged in an inner portion of the light-transmitting sheet. The light-coupling structure includes first, second and third light-transmitting layers. A refractive index of the first and second light-transmitting layers is smaller than that of the light-transmitting sheet; and a refractive index of the third light-transmitting layer is larger than those of the first and second light-transmitting layers. The third light-transmitting layer has a diffraction grating parallel to the light-transmitting sheet. At least a part of the photoelectric conversion section is located along an outer edge of at least one of the surfaces of the light-transmitting sheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 13, 2015
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Seiji Nishiwaki, Shinichi Wakabayashi
  • Patent number: 8908274
    Abstract: A microstructure manufacturing method includes: preparing a mold having on a front side thereof a plurality of fine structures, with conductivity being imparted to a bottom portion between the plurality of fine structures; forming a first plating layer between the plurality of fine structures by plating the bottom portion; and forming a second plating layer of larger stress than the first plating layer on the first plating layer between the plurality of fine structures, wherein the stress of the second plating layer is used to curve a back side surface of the mold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 9, 2014
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Takayuki Teshima, Shinan Wang, Yutaka Setomoto, Takashi Nakamura
  • Patent number: 8902504
    Abstract: A diffractive optical element used as a lens of an optical system includes a first diffractive grating that includes a first grating surface and a first grating wall surface, a reflective member disposed on the first grating wall surface, and a second diffractive grating that includes a second grating surface and a second grating wall surface, and that is disposed so that the second grating surface contacts the first grating surface and the second grating wall surface contacts the reflective member. When off-screen light having an incident angle larger than that of off-axis light flux enters the diffractive optical element at a predetermined incident angle, an emission angle of light having the maximum intensity emitted from the first or second grating wall surface is appropriately set. The maximum width of the reflective member and a grating pitch of each of the first and second diffractive gratings are appropriately set.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 2, 2014
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Reona Ushigome
  • Publication number: 20140347734
    Abstract: A first layer which has a surface including a diffraction grating part having a plurality of fine concavities and convexities and a second layer which is embedded in the diffraction grating part with no space therebetween are formed on a transparent substrate. A recess part having a fixed width is formed on the outer periphery of the first layer. An outer fence part having a fixed width is formed on the outer periphery of the recess part. The second layer is also embedded in the recess part.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 19, 2014
    Publication date: November 27, 2014
    Applicant: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Nobuyuki KAMIKIHARA, Toshihiko WADA