Small inlet optical panel and a method of making a small inlet optical panel

• US 6,222,971 B1
• Filed: 05/26/1999
• Issued: 04/24/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Bookhaven Science Associates, Brookhaven Science Associates, LLC (Government of the United States of America)
• Original Assignee: David Slobodin, Brookhaven Science Associates, LLC (Government of the United States of America)
• Inventors: Slobodin, David, Veligdan, James T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sanghavi, Hemang
• Application Number:
  US09/318,933
• Time in Patent Office: 699 Days
• Field of Search: 385/120, 385/121, 385/133, 385/146, 385/147, 385/115, 385/116, 385/901, 362/511, 362/551-553, 349/62, 349/65
• US Class Current: 385/120
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/06 the relative position of the fibres being the same at both ends, e.g. for transporting images
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/08 with fibre bundle in form of plate
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 385/901 Illuminating or display apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 156/1052 with cutting, punching, tearing or severing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 156/1062 Prior to assembly

Abstract

An optical panel having a small inlet, and a method of making a small inlet optical panel, are disclosed, which optical panel includes a individually coating, stacking, and cutting a first plurality of stacked optical waveguides to form an outlet face body with an outlet face, individually coating, stacking, and cutting a second plurality of stacked optical waveguides to form an inlet face body with an inlet face, and connecting an optical coupling element to the first plurality and to the second plurality, wherein the optical coupling element redirects light along a parallel axis of the inlet face to a parallel axis of the outlet face. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the inlet face is disposed obliquely with and askew from the outlet face.

Claims

1. An optical panel, comprising:

a first plurality of stacked optical waveguides, each first waveguide having a first end and a second end, wherein said first plurality of waveguides forms an outlet face body, and wherein the plurality of first ends of said first plurality of waveguides form an outlet face;

a second plurality of stacked optical waveguides, each second waveguide having a first end and a second end, wherein said second plurality of waveguides forms an inlet face body, and wherein the plurality of second ends of said second plurality of waveguides form an inlet face, the inlet face being smaller in surface area than the outlet face in each of two dimensions; and

a light redirection element connected to the plurality of second ends of said first plurality of waveguides and to the plurality of first ends of said second plurality of waveguides, wherein said light redirection element redirects light from along an axis parallel to a plane corresponding to a waveguide within the second plurality of waveguides, to an axis parallel to another plane corresponding to a waveguide within the first plurality of waveguides.

2. The optical panel of claim 1, wherein the inlet face is disposed askew from the outlet face.

3. The optical panel of claim 1, further comprising a light generator which generates the light.

4. The optical panel of claim 3, wherein a surface area of light generation is immediately adjacent to the inlet face and is equivalent to a surface area of the inlet face.

5. The optical panel of claim 3, wherein the light generator includes:

a light source;

a light modulator; and

a plurality of imaging optics.

6. The optical panel of claim 5, wherein the light source is selected from the group consisting of a bright incandescent bulb, a laser, a plurality of phosphors, at least one LED, at least one OLED, and at least one FED.

7. The optical panel of claim 5, wherein the light source and the light modulator are within a projector.

8. The optical panel of claim 5, wherein the light from the light source is collimated.

9. The optical panel of claim 5, wherein the modulator is selected from the group consisting of a liquid crystal display, a digital micromirror device, a GLV, a laser raster scanner, a PDLC, an LCOS, a MEMS, and a CRT.

10. The optical panel of claim 5, wherein the plurality of imaging optics includes light folding mirrors and lenses.

11. The optical panel of claim 5, wherein the plurality of imaging optics are optically aligned between the inlet face and the light modulator for focusing the light as required to fit the inlet face.

12. The optical panel of claim 1, wherein each waveguide of said first plurality of waveguides extends horizontally, and said first plurality of waveguides extends vertically, along the outlet face.

13. The optical panel of claim 1, wherein the light is displayed on the outlet face as a video image.

14. The optical panel of claim 1, wherein each waveguide of said second plurality of waveguides extends horizontally below and substantially perpendicular to a horizontal extension of each waveguide of said first plurality of waveguides.

15. The optical panel of claim 14, wherein said second plurality of waveguides extends vertically.

16. The optical panel of claim 1, wherein the light is expanded from the inlet face for display on the outlet face.

17. The optical panel of claim 1, wherein the outlet face body is a triangular wedge between the outlet face and a back of the outlet face body, and wherein the triangular wedge increases in thickness from a top of the outlet face body to said light redirection element.

18. The optical panel of claim 17, wherein the triangular wedge shape has an angle in the range of about 5 degrees to about 10 degrees.

19. The display panel of claim 1, wherein the outlet face body has a height across a vertical of the outlet face, and a width across a horizontal of the outlet face.

20. The optical panel of claim 19, wherein the width to the height aspect ratio is 4:

3.

21. The optical panel of claim 1, wherein the inlet face body is a triangular wedge between the inlet face and said light redirection element, and wherein the triangular wedge increases in thickness from said light redirection element to the inlet face.

22. The optical panel of claim 1, wherein the inlet face body has a height across a vertical of the inlet face, and a width across a horizontal of the inlet face.

23. The optical panel of claim 22, wherein the width to the height aspect ratio is 4:

3.

24. The optical panel of claim 1, wherein the optical panel comprises two triangular wedges, one of said triangular wedges is the outlet face body which increases in thickness from a top to a bottom of the outlet face body, and the other triangular wedge is the inlet face body which increases in thickness from the light redirection element to the inlet face.

25. The optical panel of claim 1, wherein each waveguide of said first plurality of waveguides and each waveguide of said second plurality are formed of a material selected from the group consisting of polymers, plastics, and glass.

26. The optical panel of claim 25, wherein the selected material is glass, and wherein the glass has a thickness in the range of about 2 to about 40 microns.

27. The optical panel of claim 26, wherein each waveguide of said first plurality of waveguides has a first thickness, and wherein each waveguide of said second plurality of waveguides has a second thickness.

28. The optical panel of claim 26, wherein the glass is selected from a group consisting of BK7 glass and plastic laminate.

29. The optical panel of claim 1, wherein each waveguide of said first plurality of waveguides and each waveguide of said second plurality of waveguides includes:

at least two cladding layers;

a cental core laminated between the cladding layers and having two ends;

a receiving end at one end of the central core; and

an outlet end at the second end of the central core.

30. The optical panel of claim 29, wherein the central core has a first index of refraction, and the at least two cladding layers have a second index of refraction, and wherein the second index of refraction is lower than the first index of refraction.

31. The optical panel of claim 1, wherein said light redirection element is an optical coupler.

32. The optical panel of claim 1, wherein said light redirection element includes a plurality of fresnel prismatic grooves.

33. The optical panel of claim 1, wherein said light redirection element is a transmissive right angle film.

34. The optical panel of claim 1, wherein said light redirection element is a diffractive grating.

35. The optical panel of claim 1, wherein said light redirection element is a holographic optical element.

36. The optical panel of claim 1, wherein the inlet face is directly below the outlet face body at the outlet face, and wherein the inlet face extends horizontally along a horizontal of the outlet face.

37. The optical panel of claim 1, wherein the inlet face is directly below the outlet face body at a side of the panel opposed to the outlet face, and wherein the inlet face extends horizontally parallel to a horizontal of the outlet face.

42. The optical panel of claim 1, wherein light traveling within one waveguide of the second plurality of waveguides is redirected by the light redirection element into at least two waveguides of the first plurality of waveguides.

38. An optical panel, comprising:

a plurality of stacked optical waveguides, each waveguide having a first end, which first end has two edges, and a second end, wherein the second end of each waveguide is disposed askew from the first end below one edge of the first end, wherein said plurality of first ends forms an outlet face, wherein said plurality of second ends forms an inlet face smaller in surface area than the outlet face, and wherein light displayed at the outlet face is expanded in two dimensions from the light which enters the inlet face; and

a light redirection element optically aligned between the inlet face and outlet face to redirect light entering the inlet face toward the outlet face.

39. The optical panel of claim 38, wherein said light redirection element is disposed at a bottom of the panel and is inclined from the inlet face at a right side of the outlet face, to a left side of the outlet face.

40. The optical panel of claim 39, wherein said light redirection element comprises a plurality of tilted reflective facets optically aligned between the inlet face and the outlet face.

41. The optical panel of claim 38, wherein the inlet face is inclined toward the one edge of the outlet face.