10780 results about "Beam splitters" patented technology

A projection display system. The projection system includes a light source, illumination optics that are capable of splitting the light from the source into individual color bands, and folding mirrors. The folding mirrors operate to direct the color bands to a reflective element that has a contoured surface. The contoured surface of the reflective element causes the light to form into scanning rasters that are recombined and sent to a spatial light modulator. The spatial light modulator is typically made up of a panel of individually addressable elements. If the spatial light modulator requires polarized light, a polarizing beam splitter and quarter-wave plate are included as part of the illumination optics.

A head mounted display device has a mount which attaches the device to a user's head, a beam-splitter attached to the mount with movement devices, an image projector which projects images onto the beam-splitter, an eye-tracker which tracks a user's eye's gaze, and one or more processors. The device uses the eye tracker and movement devices, along with an optional head-tracker, to move the beam-splitter about the center of the eye's rotation, keeping the beam-splitter in the eye's direct line-of-sight. The user simultaneously views the image and the environment behind the image. A second beam-splitter, eye-tracker, and projector can be used on the user's other eye to create a stereoptic, virtual environment. The display can correspond to the resolving power of the human eye. The invention presets a high-resolution image wherever the user looks.

Diffraction grating based fiber optic interferometric systems for use in optical coherence tomography, wherein sample and reference light beams are formed by a first beam splitter and the sample light beam received from a sample and a reference light beam are combined on a second beam splitter. In one embodiment, the first beam splitter is an approximately 50 / 50 beam splitter, and the second beam splitter is a non 50 / 50 beam splitter. More than half of the energy of the sample light beam is directed into the combined beam and less than half of the energy of the reference light beam are directed into the combined beam by the second beam splitter. In another embodiment, the first beam splitter is a non 50 / 50 beam splitter and the second beam splitter is an approximately 50 / 50 beam splitter. An optical circulator is provided to enable the sample light beam to bypass the first beam splitter after interaction with a sample. Two combined beams are formed by the second beam splitter for detection by two respective detectors. More than half of the energy of the light source provided to the first beam splitter is directed into the sample light beam and less than half of the energy is directed into the reference light beam. The energy distribution between the sample and reference light beams can be controlled by selection of the characteristics of the beam splitters.

A head mounted display device has a mount which attaches the device to a user's head, a beam-splitter attached to the mount with movement devices, an image projector which projects images onto the beam-splitter, an eye-tracker which tracks a user's eye's gaze, and one or more processors. The device uses the eye tracker and movement devices, along with an optional head-tracker, to move the beam-splitter about the center of the eye's rotation, keeping the beam-splitter in the eye's direct line-of-sight. The user simultaneously views the image and the environment behind the image. A second beam-splitter, eye-tracker, and projector can be used on the user's other eye to create a stereoptic, virtual environment. The display can correspond to the resolving power of the human eye. The invention presets a high-resolution image wherever the user looks.

Method and apparatus for detecting biomolecular interactions. The use of labels is not required and the methods may be performed in a high-throughput manner. An instrument system for detecting a biochemical interaction on a biosensor. The system includes an array of detection locations comprises a light source for generating collimated white light. A beam splitter directs the collimated white light towards a surface of a sensor corresponding to the detector locations. A detection system includes an imaging spectrometer receiving the reflected light and generating an image of the reflected light.

There is provided an optical device, including a light waves-transmitting substrate having two major surfaces and edges, optical means for coupling light into the substrate by total internal reflection, and a plurality of partially reflecting surfaces (22a, 22b) carried by the substrate wherein the partially reflecting surfaces (22a, 22b) are parallel to each other and are not parallel to any of the edges of the substrate, and wherein one or more of the partially reflecting surfaces (22a, 22b) is an anisotropic surface.

A passive / active infrared imaging system apparatus for mounting on a head / helmet includes a passive infrared camera Head Pack having a removable narrow band filter cover, an objective lens, a beam splitter, an uncooled focal plane array (UFPA) package, an interface board, and a display unit such a liquid crystal display (LCD), with forward / back, up / down, and tilt adjustment functions fitting any mask, mounted in the front of said head / helmet for converting infrared light images into electronic signals. An electronic unit coupled between the UFPA of the infrared camera and the display unit, includes a controller for processing video signals from the infrared camera and supplying them to the display unit. The electronic circuit includes a wireless video & audio transceiver, a piezoelectric microphone, a voice controller, and a neural network pattern recognition chip. The display unit (such as LCD)] is inside the head pack and mounted on the head / helmet for converting electronic signals into visible light images, so that it is in front of eyes of a user, so that the user can directly view an external scene without blocking his normal vision, if the optical axis of the display unit is aligned with the optical axis of the objective lens, the system parallax is eliminated. A Battery Pack having a video controller board and battery is mounted on the rear of the head / helmet so that it gives the video output and power to the infrared system. An eye-safe near infrared laser diode with corresponding optical and electronic attachments mounted on the head / helmet illuminates targets to get images through same passive infrared system.

An imaging system, comprising a broadband unpolarized white light source (81), a polarization converter system for converting polarization axes of unpolarized white light into a substantially single polarization axis, to produce a beam of polarized light, a selective polarization filter (82), adapted to selectively rotate a polarization axis of a selected spectral band of light of the with respect to remaining polarized light based on a control signal (119), a polarized beam splitter (84), for separating light having a the substantially single polarization axis from light having a rotated polarization axis, a pair of electro-optic spatial light modulators (86, 89), disposed along a path of light within the spectral band and a path of remaining light outside the spectral band, respectively, and being adapted to modulate an image therein, and a polarized beam splitter (88), for recombining modulated light from the pair of light modulators. In a preferred embodiment, the selective polarization filter (82, 72) is divided into a plurality of regions (70, 71), each adapted to independently and selectively rotate a polarization axis of a selected spectral band of light of the with respect to remaining polarized light.

An eyepiece for a head mounted display includes an illumination module, an end reflector, a viewing region, and a polarization rotator. The illumination module includes an image source for launching computer generated image (“CGI”) light along a forward propagating path. The end reflector is disposed at an opposite end of the eyepiece from the illumination module to reflect the CGI back along a reverse propagation path. The viewing region is disposed between the illumination module and the end reflector. The viewing region includes a polarizing beam splitter (“PBS) and non-polarizing beam splitter (“non-PBS”) disposed between the PBS and the end reflector. The viewing region redirects the CGI light from the reverse propagation path out of an eye-ward side of the eyepiece. The polarization rotator is disposed in the forward and reverse propagation paths of the CGI light between the viewing region and the end reflector.

The present invention discloses simple and yet highly efficient configurations of optical coherence domain reflectometry systems. The combined use of a polarizing beam splitter with one or two polarization manipulator(s) that rotate the returned light wave polarization to an orthogonal direction, enables one to achieve high optical power delivery efficiency as well as fixed or predetermined output polarization state of the interfering light waves reaching a detector or detector array, which is especially beneficial for spectral domain optical coherence tomography. In addition, the system can be made insensitive to polarization fading resulting from the birefringence change in the sample and reference arms. Dispersion matching can also be easily achieved between the sample and the reference arm for high resolution longitudinal scanning.

A see-through head-mounted optical apparatus for a viewer has at least one display module, each display module having a display energizable to form an image and a positive field lens optically coupled to the surface of the display and disposed to direct imaged light from the display toward a first surface of a prism. A curved reflector element is in the path of the imaged light through the prism and disposed at a second surface of the prism, opposite the first surface. The curved reflector element has a refractive surface and a curved reflective surface disposed to collimate imaged light received from the display and direct this light toward a beam splitter that is disposed within the prism and that is at an oblique angle to the collimated reflected light. The beam splitter redirects the incident collimated reflected light through the prism to form an entrance pupil for the viewer.

Methods and systems for performing three dimensional LIDAR measurements with a highly integrated LIDAR measurement device are described herein. In one aspect, the illumination source, detector, and illumination drive are integrated onto a single printed circuit board. In addition, in some embodiments, the associated control and signal conditioning electronics are also integrated onto the common printed circuit board. Furthermore, in some embodiments, the illumination drive and the illumination source are integrated onto a common Gallium Nitride substrate that is independently packaged and attached to the printed circuit board. In another aspect, the illumination light emitted from the illumination source and the return light directed toward the detector share a common optical path within the integrated LIDAR measurement device. In some embodiments, the return light is separated from the illumination light by a beam splitter. In some other embodiments, the optical design avoids losses associated with a beam splitter.

The embodiments herein describe how if a narrow wave length notch of light is used to illuminate or create an image source then the beam-splitter is only required to transmit over the narrow wavelength notch. If the concave mirror only reflects the same wavelength notch then all other wavelengths will pass through the mirror and be reflected by the beam-splitter. Each of the embodiments uses a method of optical design wherein certain portions or elements of the optical system are used for multiple purposes and / or transmit certain paths of light transmission in multiple directions. This use of multiple purposes and multiple paths produces embodiments of the invention that are smaller and more robust.

An optical system and method for data reading. The preferred system is directed to a scanner which includes a laser diode and a beam splitter for generating first optical beam and a second optical beam, the first optical beam being directed toward one side of a scanning optical element such as a rotating polygon mirror and to a first mirror array, the second optical beam is being simultaneously directed toward a second optical element such as another side of the rotating polygon mirror and then to a second and a third mirror array. The first mirror array is configured to generate a scan pattern through a vertical window and the second and third mirror arrays are configured to generate scan patterns passing through a horizontal window. In combination, the three mirror arrays generate three sets of scan lines so as to scan the bottom and all lateral sides of an object being passed through the scan volume.

A touchscreen system comprises a touch area. At least one transmitter is positioned proximate to outer edges of the touch area for transmitting first beams in a first direction. At least one beam splitter is positioned proximate to the outer edges of the touch area for splitting the first beams into at least second and third beams that travel through the touch area in at least second and third directions, respectively. The at least one beam splitter comprises a plurality of deflecting elements. Receivers are positioned proximate to the outer edges of the touch area for receiving the at least second and third beams.

An optical projection and image sensing apparatus including a light source, a light valve, a first lens set, a sensing module, and a beam splitter is provided. The light valve is used to convert an illumination light from the light source to an image light beam. The first lens set is used to project the image light to display an image on a screen, and the sensing module is used to sense a sensing light from the image on the screen. The beam splitter is disposed on the optical paths of the image light and the sensing light from the image on the screen. One of the sensing module and the light valve is disposed on the optical path of the sensing light passing through the beam splitter, and the other is disposed on optical path of the sensing light reflected by the beam splitter.

Image display device having an image source generating an image, a beam splitter positioned at forty five degrees to the main optical path, to project and focus the image generated by the image source into the entrance pupil of the human eye, two achromatic standard doublet lenses positioned perpendicularly to the main optical path and placed between the image source and the beam splitter, and configured to amplify, collimate, and correct optical aberrations of said image, wherein the image source, beam splitter and the doublet lenses are in an on-axis configuration and the image display device comprises two mounting brackets parallel to the main optical axis, each having an extremity part holding an edge of the beam splitter and the other extremity pivotally attached to a housing, allowing the brackets and beam splitter to rotate in an axis perpendicular to the main optical path.

A head up display (HUD) includes an image source, a first lens, a second lens, a focusing mirror, a polarizing beam splitter, a second beam splitter and a combiner. The first lens is disposed between the image source and polarizing beam splitter. The second lens is disposed between the polarizing beam splitter and the second beam splitter. The polarizing beam splitter is disposed between the first lens, the mirror, and the second lens. The optical system for the HUD forms an intermediate image between the second lens and the second beam splitter. The intermediate image is located at the focal point of the curved combiner, and therefore the curved combiner collimates the display light upon reflection. The HUD can be compact and have a wide field of view.

A chromatic confocal technique and apparatus for the rapid three-dimensional measurement of an object shape, particularly of a tooth in a patient's jaw, using an array of polychromatic point light sources, a planar detector matrix, a beam splitter for lateral spectral separation, and an objective for illuminating and recording the object. Spectral defined reference light bundles are generated, injected into the detection beam path via a reference beam path and, following spectral splitting, are focused on the detector matrix as reference image points, wherein laterally shifted sub-matrices are numerically defined on the detector matrix for spectral analysis of the object light, which sub-matrices are implemented as spectral cells for three-dimensional measurement of the shape of the object.

Several systems and a method are taught for rapid modulation of a light beam in lidar and other imaging. Most of these involve micromechanical and other very small control components. One such unit is a light-switching fabric, based on displacement of liquid in a tube that crosses a junction of two optical waveguides. In some forms, the fabric is preferably flexible to enable folding or coiling to form a two-dimensional face that interacts with optical-fiber ends an opposed fiber bundle. The rapid operation of the switch fabric enables it to be used as a beam-splitter, separating incoming and return beams; and also to form pulses from supplied CW light. Other control components include micromechanical mirrors (e. g. MEMS mirrors) operated in arrays or singly, liquid-crystal devices, and other controlled-birefringence cells. Some of these devices are placed within an optical system for directional light-beam steering.

An agile optical sensor based on scanning optical interferometry is proposed. The preferred embodiment uses a retroreflective sensing design while another embodiment uses a transmissive sensing design. The basic invention uses wavelength tuning to enable an optical scanning beam and a wavelength dispersive element like a grating to act as a beam splitter and beam combiner to create the two beams required for interferometry. A compact and environmentally robust version of the sensor is an all-fiber in-line low noise delivery design using a fiber circulator, optical fiber, and fiber lens connected to a Grating-optic and reflective sensor chip.

An eyepiece for a head mounted display includes an imaging region and a viewing region. The imaging region includes a camera. The viewing region is aligned with an eye of a user and includes a first beam splitter and a second beam splitter. The viewing region is partially transparent to pass a first portion of ambient scene light received through an ambient scene side of the eyepiece out an eye-ward side of the eyepiece. The first BS and the second BS are partially reflective and oriented to redirect offset portions of the ambient scene light received through the ambient scene side along the eyepiece towards the imaging region. The camera is positioned to capture both of the offset portions of the ambient scene light redirected by the first beam splitter and the second beam splitter.

An improved ophthalmic instrument for in-vivo examination of a human eye including a wavefront sensor that estimates aberrations in reflections of the light formed as an image on the retina of the human eye and a phase compensator that spatially modulates the phase of incident light to compensate for the aberrations estimated by the wavefront sensor Optical elements create an image of a fixation target at the phase compensator, which produces a compensated image of the fixation target that compensates for aberrations estimated by the wavefront sensor. The compensated image of the fixation target produced by the phase compensator is recreated at the human eye to thereby provide the human eye with a view of compensation of the aberrations the human eye as estimated by the wavefront sensor. The phase compensator preferably comprises a variable focus lens that compensates for focusing errors and a deformable mirror that compensates for higher order aberrations. The optical elements preferably comprise a plurality of beam splitters and a plurality of lens groups each functioning as an afocal telescope. In addition, instruments and systems are provided that exploit these capabilities to enable efficient prescription and / or dispensing of corrective optics (e.g., contact lens and glasses).

A tissue imaging system (200) for examining the medical condition of tissue (290) has an illumination optical system (205), which comprises a light source (220), having one or more light emitters, beam shaping optics, and polarizing optics. An optical beamsplitter (260) directs illumination light to an imaging sub-system, containing a spatial light modulator array (300). An objective lens (325) images illumination light from the spatial light modulator array to the tissue. An optical detection system (210) images the spatial light modulator to an optical detector array. A controller (360) drives the spatial light modulator to provide time variable arrangements of on-state pixels. The objective lens operates in a nominally telecentric manner relative to both the spatial light modulator and the tissue. The polarizing optics are independently and iteratively rotated to define variable polarization states relative to the tissue. The modulator pixels optically function like pinholes relative to the illumination light and the image light.

The present invention enables eye contact between conferees during a teleconference using a terminal equipped with a beamsplitter for reflecting an image of a conferee. In one embodiment the image of the conferee appears to be in a backdrop. The display is positioned behind the viewing side of the beam-splitter so that the conferee views the display through the beamsplitter. The invention can be configured to create the appearance that a life-size teleconference image of a remote conferee appears in the same room as the local conferee apparently sitting on the other side of the desk or table—creating the experience of telepresence with eye contact. Additional embodiments include adaptable features of the present invention which enable it to be configured into many specific types of eye contact display products. The invention further teaches the design of a telepresence network, linking numerous terminals sharing a commonality in configuration. The invention also includes many additional versatility embodiments for desktop and group videoconferencing, as well as other videoconferencing applications.

The present invention discloses simple and yet highly efficient configurations of optical coherence domain reflectometry systems. The combined use of a polarizing beam splitter with one or two polarization manipulator(s) that rotate the returned light wave polarization to an orthogonal direction, enables one to achieve high optical power delivery efficiency as well as fixed or predetermined output polarization state of the interfering light waves reaching a detector or detector array, which is especially beneficial for spectral domain optical coherence tomography. In addition, the system can be made insensitive to polarization fading resulting from the birefringence change in the sample and reference arms. Dispersion matching can also be easily achieved between the sample and the reference arm for high resolution longitudinal scanning.

A patient monitor capable of measuring microcirculation at a tissue site includes a light source, a beam splitter, a photodetector and a patient monitor. Light emitted from the light source is split into a reference arm and a sample arm. The light in the sample arm is directed at a tissue site, such as an eyelid. The reflected light from the tissue site is interfered with the light from the reference arm. The photodetector measures the interference of the light from both the sample arm and the reference arm. The patient monitor uses the measurements from the photodetector to calculate the oxygen saturation at the tissue site and monitor the microcirculation at the tissue site.

An optical device including a light waves-transmitting substrate having two major surfaces and edges, has optical means for coupling light into the substrate by total internal reflection, and a plurality of partially reflecting surfaces (22a, 22b) carried by the substrate. The partially reflecting surfaces (22a, 22b) are parallel to each other and are not parallel to any of the edges of the substrate. One or more of the partially reflecting surfaces (22a, 22b) is an anisotropic surface.

In embodiments of pixel opacity for augmented reality, a display lens system includes a first display panel that displays a virtual image generated to appear as part of an environment viewed through optical lenses. A second display panel displays an environment image of the environment as viewed through the optical lenses, and the environment image includes opaque pixels that form a black silhouette of the virtual image. The display lens system also includes a beam-splitter panel to transmit light of the environment image and reflect light of the virtual image to form a composite image that appears as the virtual image displayed over the opaque pixels of the environment image.