Digital Optics Corporation

Digitaloptics Corporation East

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

W Hudson Welch

Michael R Feldman

Alan D Kathman

James E Morris

Gregory J Kintz

David Ovrutsky

Jeremy Huddleston

Mark Hiatt

Paul C Elliott

David Keller

Robert Te Kolste

Robert D TeKolste

Brian Harden

James E Morris, Jr

Robert D Hutchins

An optics block includes a substrate having first and second opposing surfaces, the substrate being a first material, a plurality of through holes extending in the substrate between the first and second opposing surface, a second material, different than the first material, filling a portion of the through holes and extending on a portion of the first surface of the substrate outside the through holes, and a first lens structure in the second material and corresponding to each of the through holes.

Recessed optical surfaces

An integrated optical imaging system includes a first substrate having first and second opposing surfaces, a second substrate having third and fourth opposing surfaces, a spacer between a substantially planar portion of the third surface of the second substrate and a substantially planar portion of the second surface of the first substrate, at least two of the spacer, the first substrate and the second substrate sealing an interior space between the third surface of the second substrate and the second surface of the first substrate, and an optical imaging system having n surfaces, where n is greater than or equal to two, at least two of the n surfaces of the optical imaging system are on respective ones of the first, second, third and fourth surfaces.

Integrated optical imaging systems including an interior space between opposing substrates and associated methods

An integrated optical apparatus includes an optically transparent substrate with a light source and a detector mounted adjacent thereto. The substrate includes an optical element in a transmit path from the light source to a remote target. The optical element splits the light into more than one beam. A detector receives beams reflected by the target. All optical elements needed to create the more then one beam, direct the more than one beam onto the target and direct the more than one beam from the target to the detector are on the substrate and/or any structure bonded to the substrate. Preferably, the optical element provides sufficient separation between the more than one beam such that each beam is delivered to a unique respective light detecting element of the detector. The return path from the remote target to the detector may include an optical element for each beam or no optical elements. An additional substrate may be included and bonded to the substrate. The active elements may be bonded to a bottom surface of the substrate, either directly or via spacer blocks, or may be provided on a support substrate, which is then bonded, either directly or via spacer blocks, to the substrate.

Integrated optical apparatus and associated methods

A substrate having an optical element on an input surface thereof receives a light beam not having a desired beam shape and shapes the light beam into a predetermined intensity distribution. The substrate may further include a second optical element for providing a predetermined phase pattern to the light beam provided by the first optical element. The first optical element may, for example, circularize an elliptical light beam using a soft aperture for differential power attenuation or by altering the divergence of the light beam along the different axes of the light beam. When the divergence angles are altered and the collimating optical element is provided on the output surface, the thickness of the transparent substrate is determined in accordance with a resultant difference in the divergence and/or with the initial difference in beam size along each axis and with a required circularity. A light source is mounted close to the first optical element in order to minimize the amount of differing divergence present along the different axes of the light beam. The optical elements may be diffractive, refractive, or hybrids thereof and are preferably prepared photolithographically on the substrate itself. The light source may be mounted using fiducial marks and the photolithographic processes for forming the optical elements may also use fiducial marks. All elements of the integrated beam shaper may be formed on a planar, wafer level.

Integrated beam shaper and use thereof

A diffusing function and a lens function are provided on a single surface. Such a structure may be formed from a computer generated hologram including free form regions having a phase shift associated therewith, i.e., the computer generated hologram being shifted within the free form regions by the phase shift relative to the computer generated hologram outside the free form regions. When the computer generated hologram includes zero and .pi. regions, the zero and .pi. regions may be transposed within the free form regions.

Diffusing imager and associated methods

A soft aperture allows gradual attenuation of a light beam dependent upon its location away from the center of a diffractive optical element. Such an optical element may be provided by decreasing a number of phase levels, increasing a number of phase levels, increasing a density of metal patches or diffractive gratings, or decreasing a blaze height and/or duty cycle, all radially from the center. Alternatively, the soft aperture may be defined by a photolithographic process. Such a soft aperture is particularly useful in aiding circularizing of an elliptical light beam. The soft aperture may be used alone or integrated with other optical elements.

Optical soft aperture and use thereof

An optical element is formed as a body having two layers, at least on of which is transmissive to a selected wavelength of a light of illumination. One layer is formed with a first surface relief optical formation as a boundary thereof, and the other layer is formed on the boundary so as to have an adjacent boundary that is a second surface relief optical formation that is the conjugate of the first surface relief optical formation. The other layer also has further optical features on a surface opposite the adjacent boundary. The formation and features are preferably diffractive. The further optical features opposite the adjacent boundary is preferably a compensated conjugate of the formation at the adjacent boundary.

Two layer optical elements

Integrated optical apparatus providing separated beams on a detector and

A combiner for combining light traveling on two optical paths to permit coincident viewing of the light includes a light-transmissive substrate having first and second surfaces, the first surface having a first diffractive structure that is a computer-generated hologram formed thereon configured to correct aberrations in light travelling on the first optical path which may be incident on the first surface and a partially reflective coating on the first diffractive structure, the partially reflective coating being reflective in a narrow bandwidth only, the first diffractive structure and the partially reflective coating configured to provide corrected reflection to light travelling on the first optical path, the second surface having a second diffractive structure that is a computer-generated hologram formed thereon as a conjugate of the first diffractive structure, so that light travelling on a second optical path which may be incident on the second surface passes through the second and first diffractive structures with substantially no net affect, whereby a viewer may look at the first surface and see the corrected reflection of the light travelling on the first optical path combined with the substantially unaffected light travelling on the second optical path.

Diffractive optical elements as combiners

A radially symmetric iterative discrete on-axis hologram has a high diffraction efficiency for a correspondingly small f-number. The radially symmetric hologram has a plurality of concentric constant radial phase fringes. Each fringe has a predetermined plurality of radial phase rings and each fringe corresponds to a predetermined plurality of radial phase transition points and a radial phase value between the radial phase transition points. The radially symmetric iterative discrete on-axis hologram also has radial phase fringes with a predetermined number of phase levels, at least two adjacent fringes have a phase level difference which is greater than one and less than the predetermined number minus one. The radially symmetric iterative discrete on-axis hologram is fabricated by determining a plurality of concentric fringes of constant phase with a plurality of radial phase transition points and radial phase values between the radial phase transition points for each concentric fringe. The plurality of radial phase transition points and radial phase values are repeatedly optimized to obtain optimized radial phase transition points and optimized radial phase values which maximize the diffraction efficiency. A radially symmetric hologram with concentric fringes of constant radial phase corresponding to the optimized radial phase transition points and the optimized radial phase values is then fabricated using known fabrication techniques.

Growing community of inventors

Charlotte, NC, United States of America

W Hudson Welch