SUBSTRATE-GUIDED RELAYS FOR USE WITH SCANNED BEAM LIGHT SOURCES

• US 20090015929A1
• Filed: 07/10/2007
• Published: 01/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microvision, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Microvision, Inc.
• Inventors: Miller, Joshua O., Powell, Karlton D., Freeman, Mark O., DeJong, Christian Dean
• Granted Patent: US 7,589,901 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 359/633
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0125 Field-of-view increase by wavefront division
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/0081 with means for altering, e.g. enlarging, the entrance or exit pupil
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/0172 characterised by optical features
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 5/30 Polarising elements light-modulating devices with active elements G02F1/00
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/00 Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/0023 provided by one optical element, or plurality thereof, placed between the light guide and the light source, or around the light source
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/0055 Reflecting element, sheet or layer

Abstract

Substrate-guided relays that employ light guiding substrates to relay images from sources to viewers in optical display systems. The substrate-guided relays are comprised of an input coupler, an intermediate substrate, and an output coupler. In some embodiments, the output coupler is formed in a separate substrate that is coupled to the intermediate substrate. The output coupler may be placed in front of or behind the intermediate substrate, and may employ two or more partially reflective surfaces to couple light from the coupler. In some embodiments, the input coupler is coupled to the intermediate substrate in a manner that the optical axis of the input coupler intersects the optical axis of the intermediate substrate at a non-perpendicular angle.

Claims

1. An optical device, comprising:

a light transmitting substrate that receives light containing at least one light beam at a first section and transmits the received light to a second section; and

an output substrate located proximate to the second section of the light transmitting substrate that receives the light from the second section and outputs the light with two or more partially reflective surfaces placed within the output substrate.

2. The optical device of claim 1, further comprising:

a homogenization component that causes the number of light beams within the light output from the output substrate to be greater than the number of light beams within the light received by the light transmitting substrate.

3. The optical device of claim 2, wherein the homogenization component is located inside the light transmitting substrate.

4. The optical device of claim 2, wherein the homogenization component is located outside the light transmitting substrate.

5. The optical device of claim 2, wherein the homogenization component comprises a substrate having a length shorter than a length of the light transmitting substrate.

6. The optical device of claim 2, wherein the homogenization component comprises two or more substrates located outside the light transmitting substrate.

7. The optical device of claim 1, wherein the output substrate is located between the light transmitting substrate and a viewer of the output light.

8. The optical device of claim 1, wherein the light transmitting substrate is located between the output substrate and a viewer of the output light

9. The optical device of claim 1, wherein the output substrate is physically coupled to the second section of the light transmitting substrate via a partially reflective interface layer.

10. The optical device of claim 9, wherein the partially reflective interface layer comprises a first area having a first reflectivity value and a second area having a second reflectivity value.

11. The optical device of claim 9, wherein the reflectivity values of the partially reflective interface layer vary as a function of an angle of incident light.

12. The optical device of claim 9, wherein the reflectivity values of the partially reflective interface layer vary as a function of a polarization of incident light.

13. The optical device of claim 9, wherein the reflectivity values of the partially reflective interface layer vary as a function of a wavelength of incident light.

14. A substrate-guided relay for use with a scanned beam image source, the substrate-guided relay comprising:

an input coupler that receives multiple beams of light from a scanned beam image source and creates multiple copies of light from each of the multiple beams of light;

an intermediate substrate, physically attached to the input coupler, that receives the multiple copies of light from the input coupler and transmits the multiple copies; and

an output coupler, physically attached and located externally to the intermediate substrate, that receives the multiple transmitted copies from the intermediate substrate and outputs the multiple copies from the output coupler.

15. The substrate-guided relay of claim 14, wherein the output coupler contains two or more partially reflective surfaces configured to output the multiple copies from the output coupler.

16. The substrate-guided relay of claim 15, wherein the partially reflective surfaces are substantially parallel with respect to one another.

17. The substrate-guided relay of claim 15, wherein the partially reflective surfaces are placed at an angle with respect to an optical axis of the intermediate substrate.

18. The substrate-guided relay of claim 14, wherein the output coupler is located between the intermediate substrate and a viewer of the outputted multiple copies.

19. The substrate-guided relay of claim 14, wherein the intermediate substrate is located between the output coupler and a viewer of the outputted multiple copies.

20. The substrate-guided relay of claim 14, wherein the output coupler is physically attached to the intermediate substrate via a partially reflective interface layer.

21. The substrate-guided relay of claim 20, wherein the partially reflective interface layer comprises a first area having a first reflectivity value and a second area having a second reflectivity value.

22. The substrate-guided relay of claim 20, wherein the partially reflective interface layer comprises a continuously varied reflectivity value.

23. The substrate-guided relay of claim 20, wherein reflectivity of the partially reflective interface layer varies as a function of an angle of incident light.

24. The substrate-guided relay of claim 20, wherein reflectivity of the partially reflective interface layer varies as a function of a polarization of incident light.

25. The substrate-guided relay of claim 20, wherein reflectivity of the partially reflective interface layer varies as a function of a wavelength of incident light.

26. The substrate-guided relay of claim 14, wherein the relay is attached to an eyeglass frame.

27. The substrate-guided relay of claim 14, further comprising:

a light coupling apparatus located between the scanned beam image source and the input coupler, wherein the light coupling apparatus includes;

a lens that collimates light received from the scanned beam image source;

a beamsplitter that allows the collimated light to pass through at a first instance;

a quarter-wave plate that changes polarization of the collimated light; and

a MEMS scanning mirror that reflects the polarized light back towards the beamsplitter;

wherein the beamsplitter reflects the polarized light towards the input coupler at a second instance.

28. The substrate-guided relay of claim 14, further comprising:

one or more reflective components physically attached to the input coupler that receives light from the scanned beam image source and directs the received light into the input coupler.

29. The substrate-guided relay of claim 14, further comprising:

a cross coupler physically attached to the input coupler and located on a surface opposite the intermediate substrate that receives a beam of light from the input coupler, creates additional beams of light from the received light, and outputs the additional beams of light and the received beam back to the input coupler.

30. The substrate-guided relay of claim 14, further comprising:

a cross coupler physically attached to the input coupler and the intermediate substrate and located between the input coupler and the intermediate substrate that receives a beam of light from the input coupler, creates additional beams of light from the received light, and outputs the additional beams of light and the received beam to the intermediate substrate.

31. The substrate-guided relay of claim 14, wherein the intermediate substrate contains two or more partially reflective surfaces situated at a perpendicular angle in related to outer surfaces of the intermediate substrate, wherein the partially reflective surfaces are configured to reflect some incident beams of light and transmit some incident beams of light.

32. An optical device that relays an image from an image source to a viewer, comprising:

an input coupler that receives a beam representing a portion of the image and transmits the beam to an intermediate substrate, wherein the input coupler is attached to the intermediate substrate so that an optical axis of the input coupler intersects an optical axis of the intermediate substrate at a non-perpendicular angle; and

an output coupler that receives the beam from the intermediate substrate and outputs the beam to the viewer, the output coupler attached to and external from the intermediate substrate.

33. The optical device of claim 32, wherein the input coupler receives the beam representing a portion of the image and creates multiple beams from the received beam.

34. The optical device of claim 32, further comprising:

a partially reflective layer located between the input coupler and the intermediate substrate.

35. The optical device of claim 34, wherein the partially reflective layer comprises a first area having a first reflectivity value and a second area having a second reflectivity value.

36. The optical device of claim 32, further comprising:

a homogenization component that causes a number of light beams received by the output coupler to be greater than a number of light beams received by the input coupler.

37. The optical device of claim 36, wherein the homogenization component is located inside the input coupler.

38. The optical device of claim 36, wherein the homogenization component is located outside and adjacent to the input coupler.

39. The optical device of claim 36, wherein the homogenization component is located inside the intermediate substrate.

40. The optical device of claim 36, wherein the homogenization component is located outside and adjacent to the intermediate substrate.

41. The optical device of claim 32, wherein the input coupler contains partially reflective surfaces that direct the transmitted beam to the intermediate substrate.

42. The optical device of claim 41, wherein the reflectivity of the partially reflective surfaces is dependent on a wavelength of an incident beam.

43. The optical device of claim 41, wherein the reflectivity of the partially reflective surfaces is dependent on a polarization of an incident beam.

44. The optical device of claim 41, wherein the reflectivity of the partially reflective surfaces is dependent on an angle of incidence of an incident beam.

45. The optical device of claim 32, wherein the input coupler is physically attached to the intermediate substrate at a surface parallel with the optical axis.

46. The optical device of claim 32, wherein the input coupler is physically attached to the intermediate substrate at a surface perpendicular with the optical axis.

47. The optical device of claim 32, wherein the intermediate substrate contains two or more partially reflective surfaces situated at a perpendicular angle in related to outer surfaces of the intermediate substrate, wherein the partially reflective surfaces are configured to reflect incident beams of light having a first angle of incidence and transmit incident beams of light having a second angle of incidence.

48. The optical device of claim 32, wherein the output coupler contains two or more partially reflective surfaces each having a similar partial reflection coating configured to output the beam from the output coupler and allow ambient beams of light to pass through the output coupler.

49. Eyewear apparatus that presents images to a user of the eyewear, the apparatus comprising:

two lenses;

a frame, wherein the frame holds the two lenses substantially in front of the eyes of the user; and

a substrate-guided relay at least partially contained within at least one of the two lenses, wherein the substrate-guided relay includes;

an input coupler that receives multiple beams of light from a scanned beam image source and creates multiple copies of each of the beams of light

an intermediate substrate, physically attached to the input coupler, that receives the multiple copies from the input coupler and transmits the multiple copies; and

an output coupler, physically attached and located externally to the intermediate substrate, that receives the multiple transmitted copies from the intermediate substrate and outputs the multiple copies from the output coupler.

50. The eyewear apparatus of claim 49, wherein the substrate-guided relay receives the multiple beams of light from a scanned beam image source located within the frame.

51. The eyewear apparatus of claim 49, wherein the substrate-guided relay receives the multiple beams of light from a scanned beam image source located within a device associated with the user and coupled to the substrate-guided relay.