Arched collimating lens forming a disk-like illumination

Abstract

An arched, cylindrical Fresnel lens is designed to collimate an optical beam in one plane while allowing the beam to propagate in the orthogonal plane with minimal reflection and efficient transmission. The lens comprises a thin lens body that arches about a vertical axis to yield a hollow cylindrical shape. The lens can comprise refractive areas on one or both of its outward-facing surface or inward-facing surface, the refractive areas comprising a series of parallel angled grooves etched into the lens' substrate. The lens can also be realized by a gradient change of the refractive index in the bulk of the lens material, or can comprise diffractive gratings comprising parallel binary structures. The lens may also comprise a holographic imprint on one of its surface or its bulk, thereby attributing diffractive optical power.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.