# US 6,724,530 B2 · Polarized light illuminator with a polarized light beam splitter

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- Number: US 6,724,530 B2
- Document ID: US6724530B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 10/011,429
- Filed: 2001-12-11
- Published: 2002-06-27
- Granted: 2004-04-20
- Earliest claimed: 2000-12-12
- Assignees: Ushiodenki Kabushiki Kaisha
- Inventors: Shinji Suzuki; Shinichi Umemoto
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US6724530B2

## CPC

- G02B 27/283: {used for beam splitting or combining}
- G02B 27/0927: {Systems for changing the beam intensity distribution, e.g. Gaussian to top-hat}
- G02B 27/0955: {Lenses (lenses per se G02B3/00)}
- G02F 1/133788: {by light irradiation, e.g. linearly polarised light photo-polymerisation}
- G02B: OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
- G02F: OPTICAL DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF LIGHT BY MODIFICATION OF THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIA OF THE ELEMENTS INVOLVED THEREIN; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; FREQUENCY-CHANGING OF LIGHT; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS

## Abstract

To reduce the size of a polarizing device used for a polarized light illuminator, to cut the costs of the polarizing device and to reduce the size of the entire polarized light illuminator, light from a lamp which is incident on a polarizing device, is subjected to polarization separation, and is then incident on an integrator lens. The polarized light emerging from the integrator lens is converted into parallel light via an aperture and a second planar mirror by means of a collimator and is emitted onto a workpiece. As the polarizing element, a polarizing element formed by a combination of several polarized light beam splitters is used, and it is arranged such that the shadow is projected by the boundary surfaces of the polarized light beam splitters onto the boundary lines of the lenses which form the integrator lens. In this way, the reduction in illuminance and the deterioration of the distribution of the illuminance on the irradiation surface can be prevented. Furthermore, the polarizing device can be placed on the outlet side of the integrator lens and the boundary surfaces of the polarized light beam splitters can be placed in the areas in which the illuminance is reduced by the shadow of the light which strikes the boundary surfaces of the individual lenses of the integrator lens.

## Claims

### Claim 1

Polarized light illuminator comprising:
a polarizing device in which light is polarized;
an integrator lens comprised of several lenses positioned to receive light polarized by the polarizing device; and
an optical alignment layer positioned to receive polarized light emerging from the integrator lens;
wherein said polarizing device is formed of a combination of several polarized light beam splitters in which prisms are joined to one another via a vacuum evaporated film, and wherein the polarized light beam splitters are formed and arranged relative to the lenses of the integrator lens such that shadows formed by irradiation of boundary surfaces of the combined polarized light beam splitters by light incident on the polarizing device are projected onto boundary lines of the several lenses of the integrator lens.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

Polarized light illuminator as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a convex lens on a light incidence side of the polarizing device for converting light incident on the polarizing device into parallel light.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

Polarized light illuminator as claimed in claim 1, wherein the polarized light beam splitters are joined to one another by “optical contact” and an adhesive or a sealant is applied to a periphery of joining surfaces of the prisms.

### Claim 4

Polarized light illuminator comprising:
an integrator lens comprised of several lenses;
a polarizing device in which light is polarized positioned to receive light emerging from the integrator lens; and
optical alignment layer positioned to receive polarized light from the polarizing device;
wherein the polarizing device is formed by a combination of several polarized light beam splitters in which prisms are joined to one another via a vacuum evaporated film, and wherein the polarized light beam splitters are formed and arranged relative to the integrator lens, according to a broadening of light emerging from the integrator lens, such that the boundary surfaces of the combined polarized light beam splitters are located in areas of reduced illuminance where light, emitted onto the boundary surfaces of the several lenses which form the integrator lens, is projected.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

Polarized light illuminator as claimed in claim 4, further comprising a convex lens on a light incidence side of the polarizing device for converting light incident on the polarizing device into parallel light.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

Polarized light illuminator as claimed in claim 5, further comprising a concave lens on a light outlet side of the polarizing device for converting light emerging from the polarizing device into nonparallel divergent light.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

Polarized light illuminator as claimed in claim 6, wherein the polarized light beam splitters are joined to one another by “optical contact” and an adhesive or a sealant is applied to a periphery of joining surfaces of the prisms.

### Claim 8 (depends on 5)

Polarized light illuminator as claimed in claim 5, wherein the polarized light beam splitters are joined to one another by “optical contact” and an adhesive or a sealant is applied to a periphery of joining surfaces of the prisms.

### Claim 9 (depends on 4)

Polarized light illuminator as claimed in claim 4, wherein the polarized light beam splitters are joined to one another by “optical contact” and an adhesive or a sealant is applied to a periphery of joining surfaces of the prisms.