Holographic Light-Guide Distance Sensing for Stable Optical Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing distance measuring systems, such as LIDAR, face issues with mechanical stability due to misalignment and slippage of separate optical elements under mechanical load.
Innovation Solution
A distance measuring system using a carrier medium made of glass or plastic, incorporating holographic elements for light guidance by internal reflection, which rigidly couples emission, measurement, and detection regions, ensuring robustness and reducing the number of separate components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If separate optical elements are used for light guidance and measurement, then the system can be designed with modular components, but the mechanical stability deteriorates due to misalignment and slippage under mechanical load
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple separate optical elements (light guide, emission optics, receiving optics, detector) into a single integrated carrier medium. The carrier medium is formed as one piece with all optical regions (coupling-in region, measurement region, detector region) and diffraction structures permanently bonded together, eliminating mechanical interfaces that cause misalignment and slippage.
Solution Approach 2:
The carrier medium is made from optically transparent materials such as glass or plastic that can be formed as a monolithic structure. This composite approach allows the integration of multiple optical functions within a single material body, providing both structural integrity and optical performance.
2Ease of manufacture
If multiple separate optical elements are used, then each component can be optimized independently, but the installation space increases due to alignment requirements and component spacing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines all optical components into a single integrated carrier medium, eliminating the need for separate mounting spaces and alignment clearances between components. The coupling-in region, measurement region, and detector region are all part of the same physical structure, dramatically reducing the overall installation footprint.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses diffraction structures (holographic elements) that operate in the optical dimension to achieve light guidance and beam shaping functions that would otherwise require extended mechanical spacing. This allows compact integration by utilizing optical field manipulation rather than mechanical arrangement.
3Ease of operation
If separate optical elements are used with mechanical coupling, then assembly is flexible, but the system becomes sensitive to mechanical load causing misalignment
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a monolithic carrier medium where all optical regions are permanently integrated during manufacturing. This eliminates subsequent assembly steps and mechanical coupling, ensuring that alignment precision is determined solely by the manufacturing process rather than by assembly operations, thereby preventing load-induced misalignment.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system achieves enhanced mechanical robustness, reduces installation space, and allows application on curved surfaces like vehicle windows or displays, while maintaining accurate distance measurement.
Implementation Method 1
a carrier medium 12 which is produced from glass or plastic, for example, and is designed, as a light guide, to transmit light coupled in by internal reflection
Implementation Method 2
The coupling-in region is in the form of a holographic element with a coupling-in diffraction structure and is designed to couple light at the predefined wavelength, which is incident on the coupling-in diffraction structure from the light source, into the carrier medium
Implementation Method 3
the emission diffraction structure is designed to couple light of the predefined wavelength which has been coupled in from the coupling-in region out of the carrier medium into a measurement volume to be monitored for reflection at an object outside the carrier medium
Implementation Method 4
the receiving diffraction structure is designed to couple the reflected light of the predefined wavelength, which is incident on the receiving diffraction structure from outside the carrier medium, into the carrier medium in the direction of the detector region
Implementation Method 5
The detector region is in the form of a holographic element with a detector diffraction structure and is designed to couple light of the predefined wavelength, which has been coupled in from the measurement region and is incident on the detector diffraction structure, out of the carrier medium onto a detector apparatus
Implementation Method 6
a light source which is designed and arranged to emit light at a predefined wavelength onto the coupling-in region
Implementation Method 7
the detector apparatus is designed to capture the light of the predefined wavelength which is coupled out onto the detector apparatus and to determine a distance to the object from a time of flight of the light from the light source to the detector apparatus
Data Source
AI summary
A light source emits light of a predefined wavelength onto a coupling-in region which has a coupling-in diffraction structure and couples the light into a carrier medium in the direction of a measurement region. The measurement region is a combination of an emission diffraction structure and a receiving diffraction structure. The emission diffraction structure extracts light which has been coupled into a measurement volume to be monitored for reflection at an object outside the carrier medium. The receiving diffraction structure couples the reflected light, which is incident on the receiving diffraction structure from outside the carrier medium, into the carrier medium in the direction of a detector region. The detector region has a detector diffraction structure that routes the light onto a detector apparatus. Then the detector apparatus determines a distance to the object from a time of flight of the light from the light source to the detector apparatus.