OPTICAL ASSEMBLY

• US 20150253469A1
• Filed: 10/02/2013
• Published: 09/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Lemoptix Sa (Intel Corporation)
• Inventors: Le Gros, Christophe, Kilcher, Lucio, Masson, Jonathan
• Granted Patent: US 10,502,870 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 13/22 Telecentric objectives or lens systems
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0118 comprising devices for improving the contrast of the display / brillance control visibility
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/0101 characterised by optical features G02B27/0172 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 3/0006 Arrays G02B3/02, G02B5/188 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 3/005 arranged along a single direction only, e.g. lenticular sheets G02B3/0043 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 3/0056 arranged along two different directions in a plane, e.g. honeycomb arrangement of lenses G02B3/0043 takes precedence; miniaturised objectives for electronic devices employing wafer level optics G02B13/0085
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 5/0215 the surface having a regular structure
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 5/10 with curved faces

Abstract

An optical assembly, and in particular an optical assembly which uses a microlens array or a micromirror array to reduce speckle. It further concerns an optical component which comprises a micromirror array.

Claims

1-15. -15. (canceled)

16. An optical assembly comprising:

a telecentric lens in optical communication with a microlens array; and

a beam combiner to receive light from the microlens array.

17. The optical assembly of claim 16, the microlens array comprising:

a first array of semi-cylindrical lenses defining a first surface of the microlens array; and

a second array of semi-cylindrical lenses defining a second surface of the microlens array, the first and second surfaces opposite one another and the semi-cylindrical lenses of the first array orientated perpendicular to the semi-cylindrical lenses of the second array.

18. An optical assembly comprising:

a microlens array, the microlens array comprising a first surface to receive light and second surface to emit light; and

a pin hole array adjacent to the second surface of the microlens array.

19. The optical assembly of claim 18, comprising an array of lenslets defining the second surface.

20. The optical assembly of claim 19, the pin hole array disposed a distance from the microlens array substantially equal to the focal length of the microlens array.

21. The optical assembly of claim 18, comprising an array of lenslets defining the first surface.

22. The optical assembly of claim 21, the thickness of the microlens array substantially equal to the focal length of the microlens array.

23. The optical assembly of claim 18, comprising a telecentric lens to optically communicate with the microlens array.

24. The optical assembly of claim 21, comprising a Fresnel lens disposed adjacent to the second surface to optically communicate with the second surface of the microlens array.

25. An optical assembly comprising:

a microlens array, the microlens array comprising;

a first surface to receive light; and

a second surface disposed opposite to the first surface, the second surface comprising a reflective layer to define an array of lenslets at the first surface.

26. The optical assembly of claim 25, the array of lenslets comprising convex lenses.

27. The optical assembly of claim 25, each of the lenslets in the array of lenslets having a concave lens profile.

28. An optical component comprising:

an array of micromirrors, the array of micromirrors comprising;

one or more concave micromirrors, each of the one or more concave micromirrors comprising a concave reflective surface; and

one or more convex micromirrors, each of the one or more convex micromirrors comprising a convex reflective surface.

29. The optical component of claim 28, the one or more concave micromirrors and the one or more convex micromirrors of the array of micromirrors disposed on a curved plane.

30. The optical component of claim 28, at least one of the micromirrors in the micromirror array having a different dimension than at least one other of the micromirrors in the micromirror array.

31. The optical component of claim 28, comprising:

a light source, the array of micromirrors to receive light from the light source and to reflect at least a portion of the received light;

a microlens array to receive the at least a portion of reflected light from the micro-mirror matrix; and

an optical combiner to receive light from the microlens array.