Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Takehiko Nakai

Kazuo Yoshinaga

Nobuatsu Sasanuma

Shinobu Arimoto

Toshio Hayashi

Tsutomu Utagawa

Tetsuya Nagase

Hiroshi Tanioka

Michitaka Setani

Katsuichi Shimizu

Yutaka Komiya

Yoshiki Uchida

Junko Kuramochi

Saburo Sugawara

Shuichi Kobayashi

Kazuhiko Momoki

Masamichi Tateoka

Yoshinobu Sato

Kazuyuki Kondo

Hideo Ukuda

Reona Ushigome

Takeharu Okuno

Daisuke Sano

Masaaki Nakabayashi

Sayoko Amano

An optical system includes an optical element formed of resin. On at least one of optical surfaces on the light incidence side of the optical element formed of resin, a plurality of depressions or protrusions of a size not larger than the wavelengths of visible light is formed without a periodic structure or in a random arrangement.

Optical system and image pickup apparatus having same

An optical element includes a first periodic structure portion being formed on a base portion and having a one-dimensional periodic structure in which a first medium and a second medium with a smaller refractive index than that of the first medium are alternately disposed in a first direction, and a second periodic structure portion being formed on the first periodic structure portion and having a periodic structure in which a third medium and a fourth medium with a smaller refractive index than that of the third medium are alternately disposed in the first direction. At an interface between the first and second periodic structure portions, a ratio of the first medium in the first periodic structure portion and a ratio of the third medium in the second periodic structure portion are different from each other. The element has a good form birefringence effect and a high reflection-suppressing effect.

Optical element having periodic structure and optical apparatus using the same

An optical system includes a first lens with a functional film having film hardness of equal to or less than H formed on at least on one surface thereof, and a second lens located opposite the surface with the functional film of the first lens and having a diameter larger than that of the surface with the functional film, wherein the first lens and the second lens are in marginal contact with each other.

Optical system and optical apparatus having the same

A diffractive optical element includes a plurality of diffraction gratings. A diffraction grating within the plurality of diffraction gratings includes a plurality of grating parts having a curved grating surface and grating tips which connect to define a curved envelope face. The grating surface has a radius of curvature larger than a radius of curvature of the envelope face. In addition, two diffraction gratings within the plurality of diffraction gratings are composed of different materials having different dispersions. Therefore, even when the radius of curvature of the envelope face is small, the degradation of the diffraction efficiency is suppressed.

Diffractive optical element and optical system including the same

In a diffraction optical element in which a plurality of diffraction gratings are laminated and the maximum difference of length among optical paths of light passing through the plurality of diffraction gratins is integer multiples of a plurality of wavelengths, diffraction efficiency is further improved and even when an environmental condition changes, a deviation of the diffraction efficiency is reduced. More specifically, a diffraction optical element is disclosed which includes, as the plurality of diffraction gratings, a first diffraction grating made of a resin material, in which inorganic fine particles are dispersed, and a second diffraction grating made of a material whose organic matter composition is substantially same as that of the resin material.

Diffraction optical element

In a diffractive optical element and a polarization separation element using this diffractive optical element, incident light can be effectively separated for the respective polarization directions over the entire used wavelength range. The diffractive optical element is arranged such that the diffractive optical element has a grating structure in which at least two blazed type grating portions are successively arranged along a light traveling direction. Additionally, in at least one grating portion of the two blazed type grating portions, structures smaller than a used wavelength are arranged in a periodic manner.

Diffractive optical element and optical system having the same

A layered diffractive optical element is disclosed, with which a high diffraction efficiency is attained over a broad region of used wavelengths, and with which diffraction light of unnecessary diffraction orders can be suppressed. A diffractive optical element of the present invention includes a plurality of diffraction gratings made of materials with different Abbe numbers, the plurality of diffraction gratings being layered with each other. Moreover, the partial dispersion ratio with respect to a g-line and a F-line of the material constituting at least one of the plurality of diffraction gratings satisfies the condition represented by a specified expression.

Diffractive optical element, and optical system and optical apparatus provide with the same

A diffractive optical element of the blazed-binary grating type is disclosed, with which a high diffraction efficiency can be achieved over substantially the entire used wavelength region. The diffractive optical element has a periodic structure taking a grating unit including a plurality of grating portions with different grating width and grating interval as one period. The diffraction element further includes a plurality of first grating portions made of a first material and a plurality of second grating portions made of a second material having a different refractive index than the first material that are arranged between the first grating portion.

Diffractive optical element, and optical system and optical apparatus provided with the same

Disclosed is a diffractive optical element which is made of at least two materials of different dispersions and which includes at least two diffraction gratings being accumulated one upon another, wherein each diffraction grating is formed on a curved surface of a substrate, and wherein a diffraction grating, of the at least two diffraction gratings, in which a curvature radius of the curved surface and a curvature radius of a grating surface in a portion where a grating pitch is largest, have different signs, is one of the at least two diffraction gratings which has a smallest grating thickness.

A diffraction optical element wherein a plurality of diffraction gratings formed of at least two kinds of materials differing in dispersion are laminated, at least two of the plurality of diffraction gratings are formed on a curved surface and adjacent to each other, and these two adjacent diffraction gratings are equal to each other in the shape of a curved tip plane in which the tips of respective grating portions are ranged.

In a diffractive optical element, which is formed by laminating at least three layers of diffraction gratings made of at least three kinds of materials which differ in dispersion, at least three design wavelengths are set.

In order to obtain a diffractive optical element with which a high diffraction efficiency can be obtained in a wide wavelength range and color flare is not noticeable and a picture taking apparatus using this diffractive optical element, an image is formed on a picture taking unit by using a diffractive optical element in an optical system. The diffractive optical element has a grating structure obtained by stacking a plurality of diffraction gratings made of at least two types of materials with different dispersion properties to enhance diffraction efficiency for a particular design order throughout a predetermined wavelength region and a plurality of design wavelengths which exist in a predetermined design order and at which a maximum optical path length difference in the grating structure becomes an integer multiple of a wavelength, the diffractive optical element having a design wavelength &lgr;0 satisfying predetermined conditions.

Picture taking apparatus having diffractive optical element

A diffractive optical element includes a diffraction optical part provided with a phase-type diffraction grating. The diffraction grating of the diffraction optical part has on the surface thereof minute uneven structure of which the period is substantially constant. The period is smaller than a wavelength used.

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Kawasaki, Japan

Takehiko Nakai