A multifunctional optical polarization modulation device

Abstract

A multifunctional optical polarization modulation device is composed of a plurality of unit structures and is used to realize a plurality of optical modulation functions; the unit structure is composed of a front coordinator, an optical polarization modulation element, a rear coordinator and a selector; whether the unit structure enters a working state is controlled by the selector; the selector is prepared by a polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer, which can be switched between a transparent state and a scattering state, and when it is switched to a scattering state, it can reflect light and make the current unit structure in a working state, and when it is switched to a transparent state, it can transmit light, making the current unit structure in a non-working state, and making the light enter the next unit structure along the incident direction; the optical polarization modulation element is used to realize the optical modulation function; the front and rear coordinators are composed of a wave plate and are used to modulate the polarization direction of light.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to optical technology, and more particularly, to polarization optical technology. Background Art

[0002] Optical polarization modulation elements can realize various optical modulation functions, such as polarization gratings can be used for stereoscopic display, etc. Traditional polarization modulation elements only have a single optical modulation function. The present invention proposes a multifunctional optical polarization modulation device, which can accommodate a variety of optical polarization modulation elements and select their functions according to requirements to realize a multifunctional optical polarization modulation function. Summary of the invention

[0003] The present invention provides a multifunctional optical polarization modulation device. Figure 1 The figure is a schematic diagram of the structure of the multifunctional optical polarization modulation device. The multifunctional optical polarization modulation device can be composed of a plurality of unit structures to realize a plurality of optical modulation functions. The unit structure of the multifunctional optical polarization modulation device is composed of a front coordinator, an optical polarization modulation element, a rear coordinator and a selector. In the unit structure, the front coordinator, the optical polarization modulation element, the rear coordinator and the selector are placed in sequence front and back according to the incident direction of light. At the same time, only one unit structure is in working state, and the other unit structures do not play a role. Whether the unit structure enters the working state is controlled by the selector.

[0004] Optical polarization modulators are used to realize optical modulation functions. They only modulate light with a specific polarization direction or polarization component, but have no modulation effect on light with a polarization direction orthogonal to their modulation direction. Optical polarization modulators can be polarization slit gratings, polarization pinhole arrays, or polarization cylindrical lens gratings.

[0005] The selector is made of a polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer, which can be switched between transparent and scattering states. When it switches to the scattering state, it can reflect light and put the current unit structure in a working state. When it switches to the transparent state, it can transmit light, making the current unit structure in a non-working state, and allowing the light to enter the next unit structure along the incident direction.

[0006] The front coordinator is composed of wave plates and is used to modulate the polarization direction of light. It is placed before the optical polarization modulation element so that when light enters the optical polarization modulation element from the incident direction, the optical polarization modulation element has no modulation effect on it.

[0007] The rear coordinator is composed of wave plates and is used to modulate the polarization direction of light. It is placed after the optical polarization modulation element. When the selector in the unit structure is in a scattering state, it allows the light to pass through the rear coordinator along the incident direction, and when it is reflected by the selector and passes through the rear coordinator again along the outgoing direction, the polarization state of the light is adjusted to the polarization state modulated by the optical polarization modulation element.

[0008] When the unit structure enters the working state, its optical polarization modulation element has no modulation effect on the light entering along the incident direction, but has a modulation effect on the light emitted to the optical polarization modulation element along the reflection direction.

[0009] When the unit structure enters a non-working state, its optical polarization modulation element has no modulation effect on light entering along the incident direction and light emitted along the reflected direction.

[0010] Optionally, in the unit structure, the front coordinator may be omitted.

[0011] Optionally, in the unit structure, the post-coordinator may be omitted.

[0012] In summary, the present invention can set up multiple unit structures, each unit structure is equipped with optical polarization modulation elements with different functions, so that it has a specific optical modulation function, and by switching the transparent and scattering states of the selector, one of the modulation functions is selected to use, thereby realizing multifunctional polarization modulation. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings required for use in the embodiments are briefly introduced below. It should be understood that the following drawings only show certain embodiments of the present invention and therefore should not be regarded as limiting the scope. For ordinary technicians in this field, other related drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative work.

[0014] Figure 1 Schematic diagram of the unit structure of the present invention.

[0015] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of an embodiment with three unit structures.

[0016] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of implementing 4-viewpoint spectroscopy according to the present invention.

[0017] Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of implementing three-viewpoint spectroscopy according to the present invention.

[0018] Figure 5 It is a schematic diagram of realizing 8-viewpoint spectroscopy according to the present invention.

[0019] Icons: 100-front coordinator; 200-optical polarization modulation element; 300-rear coordinator; 400-selector; 210-first unit structure optical polarization modulation element; 310-first unit structure rear coordinator; 410-first unit structure selector; 120-second unit structure front coordinator; 220-second unit structure optical polarization modulation element; 320-second unit structure rear coordinator; 420-second unit structure selector; 130-third unit structure front coordinator; 230-third unit structure optical polarization modulation element; 330-third unit structure rear coordinator; 430-third unit structure selector; 101-1 / 4 wave plate; 102-1 / 2 wave plate; 103-1 / 4 wave plate; 104-1 / 4 wave plate; 105-1 / 2 wave plate; 201-first polarization grating; 202-second polarization grating; 203-third polarization grating; 301-1 / 4 wave plate; 302-1 / 4 wave plate; 303-1 / 4 wave plate; 304-1 / 4 wave plate; 305-1 / 4 wave plate; 401-first polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer; 402-second polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer; 403-third polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0020] In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention clearer, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Generally, the components of the embodiments of the present invention described and shown in the drawings here can be arranged and designed in various different configurations.

[0021] Therefore, the following detailed description of the embodiments of the present invention provided in the accompanying drawings is not intended to limit the scope of the invention claimed for protection, but merely represents selected embodiments of the present invention. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0022] It should be noted that similar reference numerals and letters denote similar items in the following drawings, and therefore, once an item is defined in one drawing, further definition and explanation thereof is not required in subsequent drawings.

[0023] In the description of the embodiments of the present invention, it should be noted that the terms “first”, “second”, etc. are only used to distinguish the description and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance. Example

[0024] Figure 2 A schematic structural diagram of a multifunctional optical polarization modulation device provided in this embodiment.

[0025] Please refer to Figure 1 The unit structure of the multifunctional optical polarization modulation device is composed of a front coordinator 100, an optical polarization modulation element 200, a rear coordinator 300 and a selector 400. In the unit structure, the front coordinator 100, the optical polarization modulation element 200, the rear coordinator 300 and the selector 400 are placed in sequence in the front and back direction according to the light incident direction.

[0026] Please refer to Figure 2 The multifunctional optical polarization modulation device is composed of three unit structures, thereby realizing multiple optical modulation functions.

[0027] Please refer to Figure 2 The first unit structure includes a first polarization grating 201 constituting an optical polarization modulation element 210 of the first unit structure; a quarter wave plate 301 constituting a rear coordinator 310 of the first unit structure, and a first polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer 401 constituting a selector 410 of the first unit structure, wherein the front coordinator is absent in the first unit structure.

[0028] Please refer to Figure 2 The second unit structure includes a quarter wave plate 101 and a half wave plate 102 constituting a front coordinator 120 of the second unit structure, a second polarization grating 202 constituting an optical polarization modulation element 220 of the second unit structure; a quarter wave plate 302 and a quarter wave plate 303 constituting a rear coordinator 320 of the second unit structure, and a second polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer 402 constituting a selector 420 of the second unit structure.

[0029] Please refer to Figure 2 The third unit structure includes 1 / 4 wave plates 103, 104 and 1 / 2 wave plates 105 constituting the front coordinator 130 of the third unit structure, the third polarization grating 203 constituting the optical polarization modulation element 230 of the third unit structure; the 1 / 4 wave plates 304 and 1 / 4 wave plates 305 constituting the rear coordinator 330 of the third unit structure, and the third polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer 403 constituting the selector 430 of the third unit structure.

[0030] At the same time, only one unit structure is in working state, and the other unit structures are inactive. Whether the unit structure enters working state is controlled by selectors 410-430.

[0031] When the unit structure enters the working state, its optical polarization modulation element has no modulation effect on the light entering along the incident direction, but has a modulation effect on the light emitted to the optical polarization modulation element along the reflection direction.

[0032] When the unit structure enters a non-working state, its optical polarization modulation element has no modulation effect on light entering along the incident direction and light emitted along the reflected direction.

[0033] For details, please refer to Figure 2 , if the selector 410 is in a scattering state, the first unit structure takes effect. The first polarization grating 201 is prepared by punching holes in a polarizing plate, which allows horizontally polarized light to pass through, and vertically polarized light can only pass through the holes. The polarized image projected by the external projector has light polarized in the horizontal direction, so its light can directly pass through the first polarization grating 201 and be converted into circularly polarized light after passing through the 1 / 4 wave plate 301. After passing through the 1 / 4 wave plate 301, the light can be reflected by the first polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer 401 in a scattering state, and the reflected light is converted into vertically polarized light after passing through the 1 / 4 wave plate 301 again. Vertically polarized light can be modulated by the first polarization grating 201 and projected to different spatial directions.

[0034] Please refer to Figure 3 At this time, the projected image can be periodically modulated by the first polarization grating 201 and projected to four different directions to form viewpoints, thereby being used for 3D image display with four viewpoints.

[0035] For details, please refer to Figure 2 , if the selector 420 is in the scattering state and the selector 410 is in the transparent state, the second unit structure takes effect. The light of the polarized image projected by the external projector is polarized in the horizontal direction, so its light can directly pass through the first polarization grating 201, and is converted into circularly polarized light after passing through the 1 / 4 wave plate 301. Then, the light passes through the first polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer 401 in the transparent state, and is converted into vertically polarized light after passing through the 1 / 4 wave plate 101. The second polarization grating 202 is also prepared by punching holes in the polarizing plate, which allows horizontally polarized light to pass through, and vertically polarized light can only pass through the punched holes. At this time, part of the vertically polarized light can be converted into horizontally polarized light after passing through the 1 / 2 wave plate 102, thereby passing through the second polarization grating 202, and another part of the vertically polarized light passes through the through holes of the 1 / 2 wave plate 102 and the second polarization grating 202.

[0036] The light passing through the 1 / 2 wave plate 102 can directly pass through the second polarization grating 202, and then pass through the 1 / 4 wave plate 303 to be converted into circular polarized light, and then pass through the 1 / 4 wave plate 303 again to be converted into vertical polarized light after being reflected by the second polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer 402, thereby being modulated by the second polarization grating 202 and emitted from the through hole of the second polarization grating 202; the light passing through the 1 / 2 wave plate 102 and the through hole of the second polarization grating 202 can pass through the 1 / 4 wave plates 302 and 303 to be converted into horizontal polarized light, and then pass through the 1 / 4 wave plates 303 and 302 again to be converted into vertical polarized light after being reflected by the second polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer 402, thereby being modulated by the second polarization grating 202 and emitted from the through hole of the second polarization grating 202. Therefore, the second polarization grating 202 has the same modulation effect on these two parts of light. During the propagation process of the light emitted through the through hole of the second polarization grating 202 in the reflection direction, it is successively converted into circularly polarized light after passing through the 1 / 4 wave plate 101 , and then converted into horizontally polarized light after passing through the 1 / 4 wave plate 301 , thereby directly passing through the first polarization grating 201 .

[0037] Please refer to Figure 4 At this time, the projected image can be periodically modulated by the second polarization grating 202 and projected to three different directions to form viewpoints, so that it can be used for 3-viewpoint 3D image display.

[0038] For details, please refer to Figure 2 , if the selector 430 is in the scattering state and the selectors 410 and 420 are in the transparent state, the third unit structure takes effect. The light of the polarized image projected by the external projector is polarized in the horizontal direction, so its light can directly pass through the first polarization grating 201, and is converted into circularly polarized light after passing through the 1 / 4 wave plate 301. Then, the light passes through the first polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer 401 in the transparent state, and is converted into vertically polarized light after passing through the 1 / 4 wave plate 101. The second polarization grating 202 is also prepared by punching holes in the polarizing plate, which allows horizontally polarized light to pass through, and vertically polarized light can only pass through the punched holes. At this time, part of the vertically polarized light can be converted into horizontally polarized light after passing through the 1 / 2 wave plate 102, thereby passing through the second polarization grating 202, and another part of the vertically polarized light passes through the through holes of the 1 / 2 wave plate 102 and the second polarization grating 202.

[0039] The light passing through the 1 / 2 wave plate 102 can directly pass through the second polarization grating 202 and then be converted into circular polarized light after passing through the 1 / 4 wave plate 303, and then be converted into vertical polarized light after passing through the transparent second polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer 402 through the 1 / 4 wave plate 103; the light passing through the through holes of the 1 / 2 wave plate 102 and the second polarization grating 202 can be converted into horizontal polarized light after passing through the 1 / 4 wave plates 302 and 303, and then be converted into vertical polarized light after passing through the transparent second polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer 402 through the 1 / 4 wave plates 103 and 104. At this time, before the 1 / 2 wave plate 105, all the light is converted into vertical polarized light again, and the situation at this time is consistent with the situation that all the light before the 1 / 2 wave plate 102 in the second unit structure is vertically polarized light, so the subsequent modulation process realizes light modulation according to the same principle in the second unit structure.

[0040] Please refer to Figure 5 At this time, the projected image can be periodically modulated by the third polarization grating 203 and projected to 8 different directions to form viewpoints, so that it can be used for 8-viewpoint 3D image display.

[0041] In summary, the present invention can set up multiple unit structures, each unit structure is equipped with optical polarization modulation elements with different functions, so that it has a specific optical modulation function, and by switching the transparent and scattering states of the selector, one of the modulation functions is selected to use, thereby realizing multifunctional polarization modulation.

Claims

1. A multifunctional optical polarization modulation device, characterized in that: The multifunctional optical polarization modulation device can be composed of a plurality of unit structures, so as to realize a plurality of optical modulation functions; the unit structure of the multifunctional optical polarization modulation device is composed of a front coordinator, an optical polarization modulation element, a rear coordinator and a selector; in the unit structure, the front coordinator, the optical polarization modulation element, the rear coordinator and the selector are placed in sequence in front and back according to the light incident direction; at the same time, only one unit structure is in working state, and the other unit structures do not function; whether the unit structure enters the working state is controlled by the selector; the optical polarization modulation element is used to realize the optical modulation function, and it only has a modulation effect on light with a specific polarization direction or polarization component, but it has no modulation effect on light with a polarization direction orthogonal to its modulation direction, and the optical polarization polarization element can be a polarization slit grating, a polarization pinhole array, or a polarization cylindrical lens grating; the selector is prepared by a polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer, and it can be switched between a transparent state and a scattering state. When it is switched to a scattering state, it can reflect light and make the current unit structure in a working state. When it is switched to a transparent state, When the light is transmitted, the current unit structure is in a non-working state, and the light enters the next unit structure along the incident direction; the front coordinator is composed of a wave plate combination, which is used to modulate the polarization direction of light. It is placed before the optical polarization modulation element, so that when the light enters the optical polarization modulation element from the incident direction, the optical polarization modulation element has no modulation effect on it; the rear coordinator is composed of a wave plate combination, which is used to modulate the polarization direction of light. It is placed after the optical polarization modulation element. When the selector in the unit structure is in a scattering state, it allows the light to pass through the rear coordinator along the incident direction, and when it is reflected by the selector and passes through the rear coordinator again along the exit direction, the polarization state of the light is adjusted to the polarization state modulated by the optical polarization modulation element; when the unit structure enters the working state, its optical polarization modulation element has no modulation effect on the light entering along the incident direction, and has a modulation effect on the light emitted to the optical polarization modulation element along the reflection direction; when the unit structure enters the non-working state, its optical polarization modulation element has no modulation effect on the light entering along the incident direction and on the light emitted along the reflection direction.

2. A multifunctional optical polarization modulation device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: In the unit structure, the front coordinator can be omitted.

3. A multifunctional optical polarization modulation device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: In the unit structure, the post-coordinator can be omitted.

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