DIFFRACTIVE OPTICAL RELAY DEVICE WITH IMPROVED COLOR UNIFORMITY
First Claim
1. An optical relay device, comprising a light-transmissive substrate having a plurality of diffractive optical elements, wherein at least one diffractive optical element is characterized by nonuniform diffraction efficiency;
- said substrate and said diffractive optical elements being designed and constructed to relay at least a portion of a polychromatic light beam emanating from an object to at least one predetermined eye-box in a manner such that for each point of the object, there is a set of parallel outgoing light rays originating from said point and arriving to said eye-box, wherein a color difference between any two parallel light rays of said set is less than 50 Δ
E* units.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An optical relay comprises a light-transmissive substrate having a plurality of diffractive optical elements, where at least one diffractive optical element is characterized by nonuniform diffraction efficiency. The substrate and diffractive optical elements are designed and constructed to relay at least a portion of a light beam emanating from an object to at least one predetermined eye-box in a manner such that for each point of the object, there is a set of parallel outgoing light rays originating from the point and arriving to the eye-box. The color difference between any two parallel light rays of the set is less than 50 ΔE* units.
273 Citations
41 Claims
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1. An optical relay device, comprising a light-transmissive substrate having a plurality of diffractive optical elements, wherein at least one diffractive optical element is characterized by nonuniform diffraction efficiency;
said substrate and said diffractive optical elements being designed and constructed to relay at least a portion of a polychromatic light beam emanating from an object to at least one predetermined eye-box in a manner such that for each point of the object, there is a set of parallel outgoing light rays originating from said point and arriving to said eye-box, wherein a color difference between any two parallel light rays of said set is less than 50 Δ
E* units.- View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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2. An optical relay device, comprising a light-transmissive substrate having a plurality of diffractive optical elements, wherein at least one diffractive optical element is characterized by nonuniform diffraction efficiency;
said substrate and said diffractive optical elements being designed and constructed to relay at least a portion of an polychromatic incoming light beam to provide an outgoing light beam propagating in the air in a manner such that the color difference between colors of any two outgoing light rays respectively originating from two incoming light rays having the same color is less than 50 Δ
E* units over at least part of said outgoing light beam.- View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
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3. An optical relay device, comprising a light-transmissive substrate having a plurality of diffractive optical elements, wherein at least one diffractive optical element is characterized by nonuniform diffraction efficiency;
said substrate and said diffractive optical elements being designed and constructed such that when an incoming white light beam impinges the device, an outgoing light beam characterized by a maximal color deviation of less than 50 Δ
E* units across a field-of-view of at least 10 degrees exits the device into at least one predetermined eye-box.
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10. A method of transmitting a light beam, comprising operating an optical relay device which comprises a light-transmissive substrate having a plurality of diffractive optical elements wherein at least one diffractive optical element is characterized by nonuniform diffraction efficiency;
said substrate and said diffractive optical elements being designed and constructed to relay at least a portion of a polychromatic light beam emanating from an object to at least one predetermined eye-box in a manner such that for each point of the object, there is a set of parallel outgoing light rays originating from said point and arriving to said eye-box, wherein a color difference between any two parallel light rays of said set is less than 50 Δ
E* units.
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13. A method of transmitting an image of an object, comprising diffracting at least a portion of a polychromatic light beam emanating from the object to provide an outgoing light beam propagating in the air, such that for each point of the object, there is a set of parallel outgoing light rays originating from said point and arriving to at least one predetermined eye-box, wherein a color difference between any two parallel light rays of said set is less than 50 Δ
- E* units.
- View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19)
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14. A method of transmitting light, comprising diffracting at least a portion of a polychromatic light beam to provide an outgoing light beam propagating in the air, such that the color difference between colors of any two outgoing light rays respectively originating from two incoming light rays having the same color is less than 50 Δ
- E* units over at least part of said outgoing light beam.
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34. A method of designing an optical apparatus having at least one light-transmissive substrate and a plurality of diffraction gratings in a predetermined arrangement over the at least one light-transmissive substrate, the method comprising:
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selecting grating parameters for said diffraction gratings; under constraints induced by the arrangement and said grating parameters, simulating white ray tracing, within the apparatus and into at least one predetermined eye-box being at a predetermined distance from said at least one substrate, for a plurality of different rays and a plurality of different wavelengths; based on said ray tracing, calculating a color profile across said at least one predetermined eye-box; and repeating said selection, said simulation and said calculation until said color profile is characterized by a maximal color deviation of less than 50 Δ
E* units. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37)
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Specification