Amplitude and phase control in distributed optical structures
First Claim
1. An optical apparatus, comprising:
- an optical element provided with at least one set of at least two diffractive elements, each diffractive element to diffract a corresponding diffracted component of an incident optical field with a corresponding diffractive element transfer function so that each set of the at least one diffractive element set collectively provides a corresponding overall set transfer function between a corresponding entrance optical port and a corresponding exit optical port, each diffractive element being spatially defined by a corresponding diffractive element contour and comprising at least one diffracting region thereof, the diffracting regions having at least one altered optical property so as to enable diffraction of a portion of the incident optical field therefrom, at least one of;
i) the corresponding overall set transfer function; and
ii) at least one corresponding diffractive element transfer function, being determined at least in part by at least one of;
a) a less-than-unity fill factor for the corresponding contour;
b) a non-uniform distribution of multiple diffracting regions of the corresponding contour;
c) variation of a spatial profile of the optical property the at least one diffracting region of the corresponding contour;
d) variation of a spatial profile of the optical property among multiple diffracting regions of the corresponding contour; and
e) variation of the spatial profile of the optical property of the at least one diffracting region among elements in the at least one diffractive element set.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An optical element is provided with one or more sets of diffractive elements. Individual diffractive element transfer functions collectively yield corresponding overall transfer functions between corresponding entrance and exit ports. Diffractive elements are defined by contours that include diffracting region(s) altered to diffract, reflect, and/or scatter incident optical fields (altered index, surface, etc). Element transfer functions are determined by: fraction of contour filled by diffracting region(s) (partial-fill grayscale); and/or the spatial profile of the diffracting region(s) (profile-based grayscale). Optical elements may be configured: as planar or channel waveguides, with curvilinear diffracting segments; to support three-dimensional propagation with surface areal diffracting segments; as a diffraction grating, with grating groove segments. These devices may have one or more ports, and may provide one or more spatial/spectral transfer functions between the ports with spatially overlapping sets of diffractive elements.
48 Citations
93 Claims
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1. An optical apparatus, comprising:
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an optical element provided with at least one set of at least two diffractive elements, each diffractive element to diffract a corresponding diffracted component of an incident optical field with a corresponding diffractive element transfer function so that each set of the at least one diffractive element set collectively provides a corresponding overall set transfer function between a corresponding entrance optical port and a corresponding exit optical port, each diffractive element being spatially defined by a corresponding diffractive element contour and comprising at least one diffracting region thereof, the diffracting regions having at least one altered optical property so as to enable diffraction of a portion of the incident optical field therefrom, at least one of;
i) the corresponding overall set transfer function; and
ii) at least one corresponding diffractive element transfer function, being determined at least in part by at least one of;
a) a less-than-unity fill factor for the corresponding contour;
b) a non-uniform distribution of multiple diffracting regions of the corresponding contour;
c) variation of a spatial profile of the optical property the at least one diffracting region of the corresponding contour;
d) variation of a spatial profile of the optical property among multiple diffracting regions of the corresponding contour; and
e) variation of the spatial profile of the optical property of the at least one diffracting region among elements in the at least one diffractive element set. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77)
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78. An optical apparatus, comprising:
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a waveguide provided with a plurality diffractive elements, the waveguide substantially confining in at least one transverse dimension optical fields propagating therein, each diffractive element to diffract a corresponding diffracted component of an incident optical field with a corresponding diffractive element transfer function so that the diffractive elements collectively provide an overall transfer function between an entrance optical port and an exit optical port, each diffractive element being spatially defined by a corresponding curvilinear diffractive element contour and comprising at least one diffracting segment thereof, the diffracting segments having an altered optical property so as to enable diffraction of a portion of the incident optical field therefrom, at least one of;
i) the overall transfer function; and
ii) at least one corresponding diffractive element transfer function, being determined at least in part by at least one of;
a) a less-than-unity fill factor for the corresponding contour;
b) a non-uniform distribution of multiple diffracting regions of the corresponding contour;
c) variation of a spatial profile of the optical property along the at least one diffracting region along the corresponding contour;
d) variation of a spatial profile of the optical property among multiple diffracting regions of the corresponding contour; and
e) variation of the spatial profile of the optical property of the at least one diffracting region among the diffractive elements. - View Dependent Claims (79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85)
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86. An optical apparatus, comprising:
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a waveguide provided with first and second diffractive element sets, the waveguide substantially confining in at least one transverse dimension optical fields propagating therein, the first and second diffractive element sets being at least partially spatially overlapped;
each of the first and second diffractive elements sets including a plurality diffractive elements, each diffractive element to diffract a corresponding diffracted component of an incident optical field with a corresponding diffractive element transfer function so that the first and second diffractive element sets collectively provide corresponding first and second overall transfer functions between corresponding first and second entrance optical ports and corresponding first and second exit optical ports, each diffractive element being spatially defined by a corresponding curvilinear diffractive element contour and comprising at least one diffracting segment thereof, the diffracting segments having an altered optical property so as to enable diffraction of a portion of the incident optical field therefrom, at least one of;
i) the first overall set transfer function;
ii) the second overall set transfer function; and
iii) at least one corresponding diffractive element transfer function, being determined at least in part by at least one of;
a) a less-than-unity fill factor for the corresponding contour;
b) a non-uniform distribution of multiple diffracting regions of the corresponding contour;
c) variation of a spatial profile of the optical property along the at least one diffracting region of the corresponding contour;
d) variation of a spatial profile of the optical property among multiple diffracting segments of the corresponding contour; and
e) variation of the spatial profile of the optical property of the at least one diffracting region among the diffractive elements of at least one of the first and second diffractive element sets. - View Dependent Claims (87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93)
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Specification