Fujifilm Corporation

Katsumi Sasata

Yukito Saitoh

Hiroshi Sato

Akiko Watano

Fumitake Mitobe

Yutaka Nozoe

Hajime Nakayama

Shusuke Arita

Keisuke Kodama

Shigeaki Nimura

Daisuke Kashiwagi

Ayako Muramatsu

Nobutaka Fukagawa

Masaki Noro

Makoto Shimizu

Osamu Uchida

Hirofumi Toyama

Takao Taguchi

Koju Ito

Kunihiro Atsumi

Ryoji Goto

Masaya Suzuki

Takashi Murooka

Makoto Kamo

Susumu Sugiyama

Hiromoto Haruta

Kazuo Kamohara

Kousuke Hashimoto

Provided are a cholesteric liquid crystal layer having high diffraction efficiency, method of forming the same, a laminate, light guide element, and image display device including the cholesteric liquid crystal layer. The cholesteric liquid crystal layer obtained by immobilizing a cholesteric liquid crystalline phase, in which the cholesteric liquid crystal layer has a liquid crystal alignment pattern having a direction of an optical axis from a liquid crystal compound changes while continuously rotating in at least one in-plane direction, in a cross-section observed with SEM, bright portions and dark portions are tilted, where a tilt angle of a direction in which in-plane retardation is minimum with respect to a normal line in a slow or fast axis plane is θ2, an absolute value of an optical axis tilt angle φ is 'sin θ2=n·sin φ (n represents an average refractive index of the cholesteric liquid crystal layer)' is 5° or more.

Cholesteric liquid crystal layer, method of forming cholesteric liquid crystal layer, laminate, light guide element, and image display device

An optical element includes a light guide plate, an incidence portion, and an emission portion, in which the incidence/emission portion includes an Λdiffraction element having a diffraction period Λ, an Λdiffraction element having a diffraction period Λ, and an Λdiffraction element having a diffraction period Λ=1:1√2±0.015:1/2±0.015' is satisfied, an angle between periodic directions of the Λdiffraction element and the Λdiffraction element and an angle between periodic directions of the Λdiffraction element and the Λdiffraction element is 45° or 135° (±0.5°), and an angle between the periodic directions of the Λdiffraction elements in the incidence portion and the emission portion is any one of 0°, 90°, 180°, or 270° (±0.5°).

Optical element and image display apparatus

Provided are an optical laminate that can refract incident light with a high use efficiency to be incident into a light guide plate or the like, and a light guide element and an image display device including the optical laminate. The optical laminate includes first and second cholesteric liquid crystal layers that have a liquid crystal alignment pattern in which a direction of an optical axis derived from a liquid crystal compound changes while continuously rotating in at least one in-plane direction, in which in the first and second cholesteric liquid crystal layers, helical pitches in a cholesteric liquid crystalline phase are different from each other, turning directions of circularly polarized light to be reflected are the same, and rotation directions of the direction of the optical axis that continuously rotates in at least one in-plane direction in the liquid crystal alignment pattern are the same.

Optical laminate, light guide element, and image display device

Provided are an optical element that can make the brightness of light emitted from a light guide plate uniform, a light guide element, and an image display device. The optical element includes a patterned cholesteric liquid crystal layer that is obtained by immobilizing a cholesteric liquid crystalline phase, in which the patterned cholesteric liquid crystal layer has a liquid crystal alignment pattern in which a direction of an optical axis derived from a liquid crystal compound changes while continuously rotating in at least one in-plane direction, and the patterned cholesteric liquid crystal layer has regions having different pitches of helical structures in a plane.

Optical element, light guide element, and image display device

Provided is a small-sized light irradiating device having a simple configuration that projects an optical pattern. The light irradiating device includes a light source and a liquid crystal hologram element, in which the liquid crystal hologram element diffracts transmitted light in a plurality of different directions, the liquid crystal hologram element includes a liquid crystal hologram layer, the liquid crystal hologram layer is a layer that consists of a computer generated hologram and is formed of a composition including a liquid crystal compound, and the liquid crystal hologram layer further includes a plurality of regions in which directions of optical axes derived from the liquid crystal compound are different from each other.

Light irradiating device and sensor

Provided is a method of manufacturing an optical element in which aligning properties of an alignment pattern in a photo-alignment film is improved such that alignment defects of a liquid crystal compound in a liquid crystal layer can be suppressed. The method of manufacturing an optical element includes: an exposure step of performing interference exposure to a surface of a photo-alignment film including a photo-alignment material to form, on the photo-alignment film, an alignment pattern in which a direction of an optical axis derived from a liquid crystal compound changes while continuously rotating in at least one in-plane direction; and a liquid crystal layer forming step of applying a liquid crystal composition including a liquid crystal compound to the photo-alignment film where the alignment pattern is formed to form a liquid crystal layer, in which the photo-alignment material includes an azo compound, and the exposure step is performed in an environment having a relative humidity of 50% or less.

Method of manufacturing optical element

An optical member and an image display apparatus including the optical member. The optical member includes: a light guide element including a light guide plate, first and second incidence diffraction elements, and first and second emission diffraction elements; a wavelength selective retardation layer that functions as a retardation layer with respect to a specific wavelength range, and changes a polarized state of light diffracted by the first or second emission diffraction element; and a polarizer, in which the first and second emission diffraction elements are polarization diffraction elements and diffract light components such that the diffracted light components are polarized light components having opposite properties, the first and second emission diffraction elements, the wavelength selective retardation layer, and the polarizer overlap each other in a main surface of the light guide plate, and the wavelength selective retardation layer is provided between the light guide element and the polarizer.

Optical member and image display apparatus

Provided is a laser oscillation element including a cholesteric liquid crystal layer, in which even in a case where the intensity of excitation light is weak, laser oscillation can be induced. The laser oscillation element includes a cholesteric liquid crystal layer obtained by cholesteric alignment of a liquid crystal compound, in which in a cross-section of the cholesteric liquid crystal layer observed with a scanning electron microscope, bright portions and dark portions derived from the cholesteric liquid crystalline phase are tilted with respect to a main surface of the cholesteric liquid crystal layer, the cholesteric liquid crystal layer includes a colorant that emits light by excitation, and a luminescence wavelength range of the colorant and a selective reflection wavelength range of the cholesteric liquid crystal layer at least partially overlap each other.

Laser oscillation element

Provided is a sensor having a high SN ratio. The sensor includes a light source, a band pass filter, and a light-receiving element, in which the band pass filter includes two cholesteric liquid crystal layers and a discontinuous layer disposed between the two cholesteric liquid crystal layers, in the two cholesteric liquid crystal layers, helical twisted directions and helical pitches are the same, and in a case where the discontinuous layer is a layer other than a cholesteric liquid crystal layer and a wavelength having a lowest reflectivity in a selective reflection wavelength range of the band pass filter is represented by λm [nm], a thickness [nm] is in a range of '30×(λm/550) to 150×(λm/550)'.

Sensor

Provided are: an image display apparatus in which the utilization efficiency of a virtual image is high and the virtual image having high brightness uniformity can be displayed to be superimposed on a real image; and AR glasses including the image display apparatus. The image display apparatus includes: a display element; one or more cholesteric liquid crystal layers that reflect a display image of the display element; and a transparent reflection element that reflects the image reflected by the cholesteric liquid crystal layer to the cholesteric liquid crystal layer, in which at least one of the cholesteric liquid crystal layers has a structure having a region where a surface pitch changes in a thickness direction.

Image display apparatus including a cholesteric liquid crystal layer having a pitch gradient structure and AR glasses

Provided is a sensor having a high SN ratio. The sensor includes a light source, a band pass filter; and a light-receiving element, in which the band pass filter includes a cholesteric liquid crystal layer that is a layer obtained by immobilizing a cholesteric liquid crystalline phase, the cholesteric liquid crystal layer has a region where a refractive index nx in an in-plane slow axis direction and a refractive index ny in an in-plane fast axis direction satisfy nx>ny, and in a case where a selective reflection wavelength of the cholesteric liquid crystal layer is represented by λ, the cholesteric liquid crystal layer has a second selective reflection peak at a wavelength λ/and a half-width of the second selective reflection peak at λ/2 is 30 nm or less.

Distance-measuring sensor

Provided are: a light guide element in which the occurrence of multiple images can be suppressed and a wide viewing angle can be obtained; and an image display apparatus including this light guide element. The light guide element includes: a light guide plate; and first A, first B, second A, and second B incidence diffraction elements and first A, first B, second A, and second B emission diffraction elements, in which the first A and second A incidence diffraction elements and the first B and second B incidence diffraction elements diffract incident light in different directions to be incident into the light guide plate, periods of diffraction structures of the first A and first B incidence diffraction elements are different from periods of diffraction structures of the second A and second B incidence diffraction elements, periods of diffraction structures of the first A and first B emission diffraction elements are different from periods of diffraction structures of the second A and second B emission diffraction elements, the emission diffraction elements are disposed at overlapping positions in a main surface of the light guide plate, and periodic directions of the diffraction structures of the first A and first B emission diffraction elements intersect with periodic directions of the diffraction structures of the second A and second B emission diffraction elements.

Light guide element and image display apparatus

Provided are a light guide element in which incidence light can be emitted with high use efficiency and a wide FOV can be obtained for use in AR glasses, and an image display device and a sensing apparatus that include the light guide element. The light guide element includes a light guide plate and first to third diffraction elements, in which the first diffraction element diffracts incidence light in two or more different directions to be incident into the light guide plate, the second diffraction element includes a plurality of diffraction elements that diffract the light to the third diffraction element, the third diffraction element emits the light from the light guide plate, and at least one of the first diffraction element or the third diffraction element has a liquid crystal alignment pattern in which a direction of an optical axis derived from the liquid crystal compound changes while continuously rotating in at least one in-plane direction.

Light guide element, image display device, and sensing apparatus

Provided are an optical element, a light guide element, and an image display element in which the occurrence of sidelobe is suppressed. The optical element includes a cholesteric liquid crystal layer that is obtained by immobilizing a cholesteric liquid crystalline phase, in which the cholesteric liquid crystal layer has a liquid crystal alignment pattern in which a direction of an optical axis derived from a liquid crystal compound changes while continuously rotating in at least one in-plane direction, and in a case where a birefringence in a thickness region of 80% as a center portion with respect to a thickness of the cholesteric liquid crystal layer is represented by Δn1, a birefringence in a thickness region of 10% from one surface of the cholesteric liquid crystal layer is represented by Δn2, and a birefringence in a thickness region of 10% from another surface of the cholesteric liquid crystal layer is represented by Δn3, at least one of Δn2 or Δn3 is less than Δn1.

Optical element, light guide element, and image display element

Provided are: a light guide element in which deterioration in image sharpness can be prevented and the entire area of a display image can be suitably observed irrespective of the visual line of a user, the position of eyes of the user, and the like; and an image display apparatus including the light guide element. The light guide element includes: a light guide plate that includes a first light guide layer and a second light guide layer; and an incidence diffraction element and an emission diffraction element that are laminated on the second light guide layer, in which in a case where a refractive index of the first light guide layer is represented by n1 and a refractive index of the second light guide layer is represented by n2 in the light guide plate, n1<n2 is satisfied.

Growing community of inventors

Kanagawa, Japan

Katsumi Sasata