Dynamic optical devices
AssigneeBeamus, Ltd.
InventorYaakov Amitai
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention provides an optical device, including a light-transmissive substrate, and a pair of different, parallel gratings including a first grating and a second grating, located on the substrate at a constant distance from each other, each of the pair of parallel gratings including at least one sequence of a plurality of parallel lines, wherein the spacings between the lines gradually increase from one edge of the grating up to a maximum distance between the lines, and wherein the arrangement of lines in the second grating is in the same direction as that of the first grating. A system utilizing a plurality of such optical devices is also disclosed.
Claims25
An optical device comprising:
- a light transmissive substrate having at least two major surfaces, a first surface and a second surface, and edges;
- a first and a second grating, each having an X-axis and a Y-axis, located on at least one of said substrate surfaces, at a constant distance from each other;
- each grating having a lateral dimension including at least one sequence of a plurality of parallel lines, wherein the spacing between said lines gradually increases in a direction away from an edge of the grating up to a maximum distance between said lines, and wherein the spacing between the parallel lines of the second grating increases in the same direction as the spacing of the first grating;
- the dimension of the second grating along the X-axis being smaller than the dimension of said first grating in the X-axis, while the dimensions of the gratings along the Y-axis are substantially the same;
- a light source coupling a light beam into said substrate by said first grating in a first direction, and the light beam being coupled out from the substrate in a second direction by said second grating;
- said second direction of the light beam being controlled by changing a refractive index of the substrate or by changing a wavelength of the light source;
- wherein the refractive index of said light-transmissive substrate between said gratings is dynamically, externally controlled.
An optical device comprising:
- a light transmissive substrate having at least two major surfaces, a first surface and a second surface, and edges;
- a first and a second grating, each having an X-axis and a Y-axis, located on at least one of said substrate surfaces, at a constant distance from each other;
- each grating having a lateral dimension, including at least one sequence of a plurality of parallel lines, wherein the spacing between said lines gradually increases in a direction away from an edge of the grating up to a maximum distance between said lines, and wherein the spacing between the parallel lines of the second grating increase in the same direction as the spacing of the first grating;
- a light source coupling a light beam into said substrate by said first grating in a first direction, and the light beam being coupled out from the substrate in a second direction by said second grating;
- said second direction of the light beam controlled by changing a refractive index of the substrate wherein the refractive index of said light-transmissive substrate between said gratings is dynamically, externally controlled, without changing the grating functions.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.