Process for making optical structures for diffusing light
AssigneeAlliedSignal Inc.
InventorsKarl Beeson, Scott Zimmerman, Jose Diaz, Mac Maxfield
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Abstract
Optical diffusing structures can be fabricated from photopolymerizable material by directing light through a transparent or translucent substrate and then through the photopolymerizable material for a period of time sufficient to photopolymerize only a portion of the material. The resultant structure can be utilized as a diffuser, a viewing screen, and in other applications, and can be combined with other light-directing structures such as arrays of tapered optical waveguides.
Claims22
A process for manufacturing a light diffusing structure, comprising the step of directing collimated or nearly-collimated light through a transparent or translucent substrate and into a layer of photopolymerizable material comprising a photopolymerizable component, a photoinitiator and a photoinhibitor, which layer has a bottom surface, adjacent to the substrate and a top surface, wherein said light is directed through the bottom surface toward the top surface for a period of time sufficient to photopolymerize only a portion of the photopolymerizable material to thereby form a lower photopolymerized portion said lower photopolymerized portion having a uniform thickness beneath a highly modulated surface in said layer of photopolymerizable material and an upper unphotopolymerized portion and thereafter removing the upper unphotopolymerized portion and not removing the lower photopolymerized portion.
A process for manufacturing a light diffusing structure, comprising the steps of:
- selecting a transparent or translucent substrate from a material from one or more of the classes of (a) amorphous materials;
- (b) semi-crystalline materials that contain crystalline domains interspersed in an amorphous matrix;
- and (c) purely crystalline materials, the substrate having first and second surfaces generally flat and parallel to each other;
- depositing a layer of photopolymerizable material comprising at least one photopolymerizable monomer or oligomer, a photoinitiator and a photoinhibitor, on the first surface of the substrate;
- directing collimated or nearly-collimated light through the second surface of the substrate and into the layer of said photopolymerizable material, which layer has a bottom surface adjacent to the substrate and a top surface wherein said light is directed through the bottom surface toward the top surface for a period of time sufficient to photopolymerize only a portion of the photopolymerizable material to thereby form a lower photopolymerized portion portion said lower photopolymerized portion having a uniform thickness beneath a highly modulated surface in said layer of photopolymerizable material and an upper unphotopolymerized portion;
- and
- removing the upper unphotopolymerized portion and not removing the lower photopolymerized portion.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.