Color combiner and separator and implementations

An optical device for spatially and spectrally combining a plurality of optical beams having substantially parallel optical axes spaced by predetermined optical axes distances and predetermined spectral ranges comprising:

• first dichroic layer means disposed along a plurality of parallel planes that are spaced by predetermined parallel plane distances and oriented at a first predetermined angle to said substantially parallel optical axes to reflect said plurality of optical beams from said plurality of parallel planes in accordance with said predetermined spectral ranges of said plurality of optical beams to control said predetermined optical axes distances and optical path lengths of said optical beams along said optical axes;
• second dichroic layer means disposed along a plurality of additional parallel planes that are spaced by additional predetermined parallel plane distances and oriented at a second predetermined angle to said optical beams reflected from said first dichroic layer means to substantially align said optical axes of said plurality of optical beams along a single combined output axis so that said optical path lengths of said optical beams are substantially equal and said plurality of optical beams are spatially and spectrally combined into a single combined output beam.

An optical device for spatially and spectrally combining a plurality of optical beams having predetermined spectral ranges into a single combined output beam such that the optical axes of said plurality of optical beams remain substantially parallel and have substantially equal optical path lengths, said device comprising:

• first composite dichroic means for reflecting said plurality of optical beams such that path lengths of each of said optical axes of said plurality of optical beams are altered by a predetermined amount;
• second composite dichroic means for reflecting said plurality of optical beams reflected from said first composite dichroic means into a spatially superimposed path such that path lengths of each of said optical axes of said plurality of optical beams is restored by said predetermined amount to produce equal optical path lengths for each of said optical axes of said plurality of optical beams and each of said plurality of optical beams is spatially and spectrally superimposed to form said single combined output beam.

An electronic color filter device for filtering an input optical beam comprising:

• means for focusing said input optical beam on an aperture plane;
• spectral separator means disposed between said means for focusing and said aperture plane for spatially and spectrally separating said input optical beam into a plurality of optical beams such that each of said plurality of optical beams has a predetermined spectral range and optical axes that are substantially parallel and that have optical path lengths that are substantially equal;
• aperture means disposed on said aperture plane and aligned with said plurality of optical beams focused on said aperture plane for separately controlling transmission intensity of said each of said plurality of optical beams in response to an electrical filter control signal.

An optical device for spatially and spectrally separating a single optical beam into a plurality of optical beams having different spectral ranges and spatially separated optical axes comprising:

• first dichroic layer means disposed along a first plane to reflect a first optical beam from said single optical beam, said first optical beam having at least one first predetermined spectral range and a first optical axis;
• a plurality of additional dichroic layer means disposed along additional planes substantially parallel to said first plane to reflect additional optical beams of said plurality of optical beams from said single optical beam, said additional optical beams having additional predetermined spectral ranges and additional optical axes that are spatially separated from each other and said first optical axis by an amount that is proportional to the distance between said planes and the angle of incidence of said single optical beam with said first dichroic layer means and said plurality of additional dichroic layer means.