# US 10,310,214 B2 · Optical element and method for manufacturing the same > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,310,214 B2 - Document ID: US10310214B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 15/125,053 - Filed: 2014-08-28 - Published: 2017-01-26 - Granted: 2019-06-04 - Earliest claimed: 2014-03-25 - Assignees: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba - Applicants: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba - Inventors: Hiroshi Ohno; Takahiro Terada; Masayuki Tanaka; Hideshi Nakano; Kotaro Kobayashi; Shanying Pan - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10310214B2 ## CPC - G02B 9/06: two + components - B29C 64/135: the energy source being concentrated, e.g. scanning lasers or focused light sources - B29D 11/00269: {Fresnel lenses} - B33Y 80/00: Products made by additive manufacturing - G02B 3/00: Simple or compound lenses - G02B 3/08: with discontinuous faces, e.g. Fresnel lens {(diffractive Fresnel lenses G02B5/1876)} - G02B 9/12: having three components only - G02B: OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS - B29C: SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING (making preforms B29B11/00; making laminated products by combining previously unconnected layers which become one product whose layers will remain together B32B37/00 - B32B41/00) - B29D: PRODUCING PARTICULAR ARTICLES FROM PLASTICS OR FROM SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE (making granules B29B9/00; making preforms B29B11/00) - B33Y: ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING, i.e. MANUFACTURING OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL [3D] OBJECTS BY ADDITIVE DEPOSITION, ADDITIVE AGGLOMERATION OR ADDITIVE LAYERING, e.g. BY 3D PRINTING, STEREOLITHOGRAPHY OR SELECTIVE LASER SINTERING ## Abstract An optical element includes first and second optical portions, and a first connection region. The first optical portion has first and second surfaces opposed each other. The first optical portion is light transmissive. The second optical portion has a third surface opposing the first surface and separated from the first surface, and a fourth surface on an opposite side to the third surface. The second optical portion is light transmissive. The first connection region connects at least a portion of an end of the first optical portion and at least a portion of an end of the second optical portion, and provides a seamless connection to the first and second optical portions. The first connection region is light transmissive. At least one of the first or second surfaces includes a portion slanted to a plane perpendicular to a first direction from the second optical portion toward the first optical portion. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An optical element comprising: a first optical portion having a first surface and a second surface on an opposite side to the first surface, the first optical portion being light transmissive; a second optical portion having a third surface opposing the first surface and separated from the first surface, and a fourth surface on an opposite side to the third surface, the second optical portion being light transmissive; and a first connection region connecting at least a portion of an end of the first optical portion and at least a portion of an end of the second optical portion, and providing a seamless connection to the first optical portion and the second optical portion, the first connection region being light transmissive, wherein at least one of the first surface or the second surface includes a portion slant to a plane perpendicular to a first direction from the second optical portion toward the first optical portion, the first optical portion, the second optical portion, and the first connection region are in an integral configuration without an interface, and a space between the first surface and the third surface is continuous with an external region of the optical element. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The optical element according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the third surface or the fourth surface includes the portion slant to the plane. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The optical element according to claim 1, wherein a material of the first connection region is same as a material of the first optical portion and same as a material of the second optical portion. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The optical element according to claim 1, wherein the first surface is concave or convex. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The optical element according to claim 1, wherein the third surface is concave or convex. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The optical element according to claim 1, wherein a divergence angle of the outgoing light which is incident on the first optical portion and the second optical portion in the first direction and passes through the first optical portion and the second optical portion is different from a divergence angle of the incident light which is incident on the first optical portion and the second optical portion. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The optical element according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the first optical portion or the second optical portion concentrates a light. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The optical element according to claim 1, wherein a first outgoing direction of a first light incident on the first optical portion in a first incident direction and outgoing from the second optical portion is different from a second outgoing direction of a second light incident on the first connection region in the first incident direction and outgoing from the first connection region. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The optical element according to claim 1, wherein the first optical portion, the second optical portion, and the first connection region include a resin. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The optical element according to claim 1, wherein the first optical portion, the second optical portion, and the first connection region include glass. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The optical element according to claim 1, wherein the first connection region connects a portion of the end of the first optical portion and a portion of the end of the second optical portion, and a gap formed between the first surface and the third surface is linked to outside of the optical element. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The optical element according to claim 1, wherein the end of the first optical portion includes a first portion and a second portion separated from the first portion, the end of the second optical portion includes a third portion and a fourth portion separated from the third portion, the first connection region includes a first connection portion and a second connection portion separated from the first connection region, the first connection portion connects the first portion and the third portion, and the second connection portion connects the second portion and the fourth portion. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The optical element according to claim 12, wherein the end of the first optical portion further includes multiple portions, the end of the second optical portion further includes multiple portions, and a gap formed between the first surface and the third surface is linked to outside of the optical element via multiple spaces formed of the multiple portions of the end of the first optical portion and the multiple portions of the end of the second optical portion. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The optical element according to claim 1, wherein the first optical portion has a first optical axis, and the second optical portion has a second optical axis parallel to the first optical axis. ### Claim 15 (depends on 1) The optical element according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the first surface or the second surface includes a Fresnel lens. ### Claim 16 (depends on 1) The optical element according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the first surface or the second surface includes multiple slant surfaces slant to the first direction. ### Claim 17 (depends on 1) The optical element according to claim 1, wherein the first surface is non-parallel to the third surface. ### Claim 18 A method for manufacturing an optical element, the optical element including: a first optical portion having a first surface and a second surface on an opposite side to the first surface, the first optical portion being light transmissive; a second optical portion having a third surface opposing the first surface and separated from the first surface, and a fourth surface on an opposite side to the third surface, the second optical portion being light transmissive; and a first connection region connecting at least a portion of an end of the first optical portion and at least a portion of an end of the second optical portion, and providing a seamless connection to the first optical portion and the second optical portion, the first connection region being light transmissive, at least one of the first surface or the second surface including a portion slant to a plane perpendicular to a first direction from the second optical portion toward the first optical portion, the first optical portion, the second optical portion, and the first connection region being in an integral configuration without an interface, and a space between the first surface and the third surface being continuous with an external region of the optical element, the method comprising: applying an energy beam locally to a material serving as the first optical portion, the second optical portion and the first connection region, and forming the first optical portion, the second optical portion, and the first connection region, wherein forming the first optical portion, the second optical portion, and the first connection region includes causing at least one of the third surface or the fourth surface portion to slant with respect to the plane, and a material of the first connection region is the same as a material of the first optical portion and the same as a material of the second optical portion.