Method of fabrication of compound light-guide optical elements
AssigneeLumus Ltd.
InventorsShimon Grabarnik, Tsion Eisenfeld
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of fabricating a compound light-guide optical element (LOE) is provided. A bonded stack of a plurality of LOE precursors and a plurality of transparent spacer plates alternating therebetween is bonded to a first optical block having a plurality of mutually parallel obliquely angled internal surfaces. The block is joined to the stack such that first plurality of partially reflective internal surfaces of the block is non-parallel to the internal surfaces of the LOE precursor. After bonding, a second optical is thereby formed. At least one compound LOE is sliced-out of the second optical block by cutting the second block through at least two consecutive spacer plates having a LOE precursor sandwiched therebetween.
Claims19
A method of fabricating a compound light-guide optical element (LOE), comprising:
- obtaining a stack of a plurality of LOE precursors, the stack having a first pair of parallel faces including first and second faces, each LOE precursor comprising a pair of major parallel surfaces and a first plurality of mutually parallel partially reflective internal surfaces angled obliquely relative to the pair of major parallel surfaces;
- obtaining a first block having:
- a second pair of parallel faces including third and fourth faces, a second plurality of mutually parallel partially reflective internal surfaces, and a transparent plate bonded to the third or fourth face;
- bonding together the first block and the stack such that an external surface of the transparent plate is joined to one of the first or second faces of the stack and the first plurality of partially reflective internal surfaces is non-parallel to the second plurality of partially reflective internal surfaces, thereby forming a second block;
- and
- slicing out at least one compound LOE from the second block by cutting the second block through at least two cutting planes substantially parallel to the major parallel surfaces of the LOE precursors.
An optical structure that is an intermediate work product of a compound light-guide optical element (LOE) fabrication process, the optical structure comprising:
- a first region comprising a plurality of LOE precursors, each LOE precursor comprising a pair of major parallel surfaces and a first plurality of mutually parallel partially reflective internal surfaces angled obliquely relative to the pair of major parallel surfaces;
- a second region comprising a second plurality of mutually parallel partially reflective internal surfaces being non-parallel to the first plurality of partially reflective internal surfaces;
- and
- a third region separating the first and second regions, the third region being formed from a transparent plate having major external surfaces that are perpendicular to the pairs of major parallel surfaces.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.