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US 2023/0417964 A1Published application
Diffractive optical elements and methods for manufacturing diffractive optical elements
AssigneeNIL Technology ApS
InventorVillads Egede Johansen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Design techniques are described for diffractive optical elements that, at least in some instances, can permit the design of diffractive optical elements without high frequency features, or with a significantly reduced number of such features. Diffractive optical elements designed in accordance with the described techniques can, in some instances, be easier to manufacture and/or replicate.
Claims16
An apparatus comprising:
- a diffractive optical element comprising a multi-level structure having a plurality of peaks and composed of a material having a refractive index (RI), where θ is an angle between adjacent levels with respect to a particular one of the peaks, and where a maximum value of 0 for the levels associated, respectively, with at least 90% of the peaks in the multi-level structure is arctan (3.5×RI).
An apparatus comprising:
- a diffractive optical element having a smooth surface profile that has a plurality of peaks and is composed of a material having a refractive index (RI), wherein a maximum slope of a tangent line on the surface profile forms an angle θ with respect to a planar bottom surface of the diffractive optical element, wherein |θ| is no greater than θmax=arctan (3.5×RI).
An apparatus comprising:
- a diffractive optical element comprising a multi-level structure having a plurality of peaks and composed of a material having a refractive index (RI), where θ is an angle between adjacent levels with respect to a particular one of the peaks, and where a maximum value of θ for the levels associated with at least a particular percentage of the peaks in the multi-level structure is arctan (3.5×RI), wherein the particular percentage is sufficient to achieve a predetermined optical performance for the diffractive optical element.
An apparatus comprising:
- a replication tool for replicating diffractive optical elements that are composed of a material having a refractive index (RI), wherein the replication tool comprises a multi-level structure having a plurality of peaks, where θ is an angle between adjacent levels with respect to a particular one of the peaks, and where a maximum value of 0 for the levels associated, respectively, with at least 90% of the peaks in the multi-level structure is arctan (3.5×RI).
A method comprising
- providing a replication tool;
- and
- using the replication to form a plurality of diffractive optical elements, each of the diffractive optical elements comprising a multi-level structure having a plurality of peaks and composed of a material having a refractive index (RI), where θ is an angle between adjacent levels with respect to a particular one of the peaks, and where a maximum value of 0 for the levels associated, respectively, with at least 90% of the peaks in the multi-level structure is arctan (3.5×RI).
A method comprising
- providing a replication tool;
- and
- using the replication to form a plurality of diffractive optical elements, each of the diffractive optical elements having a smooth surface profile that has a plurality of peaks and is composed of a material having a refractive index (RI), wherein a maximum slope of a tangent line on the surface profile forms an angle θ with respect to a planar bottom surface of the diffractive optical element, wherein |θ| is no greater than θmax=arctan (3.5×RI).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.