Projection Optical System Uniformizing Gaussian Light Intensity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Radar devices using surface-emitting light sources face challenges in achieving uniform intensity distribution across the entire spread angle due to off-axis components, leading to reduced intensity at the boundaries, which limits the detection range and accuracy.
Innovation Solution
A projection optical system with a surface-emitting light source and an optical element where the incident surface is sectioned into regions with different refractive actions, with outer regions being tilted planes, allowing for steep intensity increase at the boundaries and widening the uniform intensity range.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If the distance between the surface-emitting light source and the optical element is increased to treat the light source as a point light source, then the intensity distribution at the boundaries of the spread angle can be steeply raised to uniform intensity, but the size of the optical element is increased, resulting in an increased size of the radar device
Solution Approach 1:
The incident surface of the optical element is divided into a first region and a second region with different refractive actions. The first region has a first refractive action and the second region has a second refractive action that is different from the first. This segmentation allows different portions of the light beam to be treated differently, enabling steep intensity distribution at boundaries while maintaining a compact overall device size.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the incident surface are assigned different refractive properties. The first region and second region have distinct refractive actions tailored to their specific functions in shaping the light beam. This local differentiation of optical properties enables precise control over the intensity distribution without requiring a large optical element.
2Power
If a surface-emitting light source is used to increase the amount of projection light, then the detection distance can be increased, but the light emitting region is increased causing light to be incident from a wide range outside the optical axis, which prevents steep intensity increase at the boundaries of the spread angle
Solution Approach 1:
The incident surface is segmented into multiple regions with different refractive actions to handle the wide angular range of incident light from the surface-emitting light source. This segmentation enables selective refraction of off-axis light components to achieve uniform intensity distribution across the spread angle while maintaining high total light output.
Solution Approach 2:
The refractive action parameter is varied across different regions of the optical element. By changing the refractive properties in the first region versus the second region, the system can accommodate the wide range of incident angles from the surface-emitting light source and transform this into a uniform intensity distribution in the projected beam.
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 solution enhances the uniformity and range of the intensity distribution, increasing the detection accuracy and range while maintaining a compact device size.
Implementation Method 1
an optical element configured to perform uniformization, at least in one direction and in a range of a projection angle, of the intensity of the light emitted from the surface-emitting light source. Here, in the optical element, an incident surface on which the light is incident is sectioned, in the direction in which the uniformization is performed, into a plurality of regions having refractive actions different from each other
Data Source
AI summary
A projection optical system includes: a surface-emitting light source configured to emit light at an intensity in a Gaussian distribution; and an optical element configured to perform uniformization, at least in one direction and in a range of a projection angle, of the intensity of the light emitted from the surface-emitting light source. In the optical element, an incident surface on which the light is incident is sectioned into a plurality of regions having refractive actions different from each other, and among the plurality of regions, at least outermost regions on which outer edge portions, of the light, in the direction in which the uniformization is performed are incident, are planes that are each tilted, from a state of being parallel to a light emitting surface of the surface-emitting light source, to the direction in which the uniformization is performed.