OPTICAL WAVEGUIDE USING OVERLAPPING OPTICAL ELEMENTS
First Claim
1. An optical waveguide comprising:
- a first optical element disposed on a first surface or a second surface of the optical waveguide; and
a second optical element disposed on the first surface or the second surface of the optical waveguide,wherein a section of the first optical element is configured to in-couple a received beam of light into the optical waveguide; and
wherein a section of the second optical element is configured to out-couple the received beam of light from the optical waveguide in a second direction.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An optical waveguide that performs both in-coupling and out-coupling using two diffractive optical elements is provided. Each optical element is a diffraction grating and can be applied to the same or different surface of the optical waveguide. The diffraction gratings overlap to form two overlapping regions. The first overlapping region in-couples light into the waveguide and the second overlapping region out-couples light from the optical waveguide. Because the optical waveguide only uses two gratings, and therefore only has two grating vectors, the optical waveguide is easier to manufacture than optical waveguides with a greater number of grating vectors.
6 Citations
20 Claims
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1. An optical waveguide comprising:
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a first optical element disposed on a first surface or a second surface of the optical waveguide; and a second optical element disposed on the first surface or the second surface of the optical waveguide, wherein a section of the first optical element is configured to in-couple a received beam of light into the optical waveguide; and wherein a section of the second optical element is configured to out-couple the received beam of light from the optical waveguide in a second direction. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A head mounted display device comprising:
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a projector; a controller coupled to the projector and configured to cause the projector to project a beam of light; and a plurality of optical waveguides, wherein each optical waveguide comprises; a first optical element disposed on a first surface or a second surface of the optical waveguide and defining a first region; and a second optical element disposed on the first surface or the second surface of the optical waveguide and defining a second region; wherein a section of the first optical element is configured to in-couple a received beam of light into the optical waveguide; wherein the first and second regions are configured to cause the received beam of light to traverse within the optical waveguide in a first direction; and wherein a section of the second optical element is configured to out-couple the received beam of light from the optical waveguide in a second direction (Y-direction). - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method comprising:
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providing a first optical element on a first surface of an optical waveguide, wherein the first optical element defines a first region; providing a second optical element on a second surface of the optical waveguide; receiving a beam of light and in-coupling the received beam of light into the optical waveguide by a section of the first optical element of the optical waveguide; causing the received beam of light to traverse within the optical waveguide in a first direction by one or both of the first region and the second region; and out-coupling the received beam of light from the optical waveguide in a second direction by a section of the second optical element. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification