Optical apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11947240-B2
Application number	US-202117324164-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 19, 2021
Priority date	Mar 1, 2019
Publication date	Apr 2, 2024
Grant date	Apr 2, 2024

Abstract

An optical apparatus includes a light source, an optical waveguide element, a light detector, and an optical system. The light source emits a light beam. The optical waveguide element includes first and second gratings. The first grating causes part of the light beam to propagate in the optical waveguide element as a guided light beam. The second grating causes part of the guided light beam to exit from the optical waveguide element. The optical system causes the light beam to enter the first grating and causes a reflected light beam from an object to enter the second grating. Part of the reflected light beam entering the second grating propagates in the optical waveguide element and exits from the first grating as an optical feedback beam. The optical system causes part of the optical feedback beam to enter the light detector as separated light beams separated depending on wavelength.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An optical apparatus comprising:
at least one light source that emits a light beam containing components of a plurality of wavelengths;
an optical waveguide element that is located on a light path of the light beam;
a light detector; and
an optical system, wherein
the optical waveguide element includes:
a first grating that has a refractive index varying along a moving radius direction of an imaginary circle about a point of incidence of the light beam and that causes part of the light beam to propagate in the optical waveguide element along the moving radius direction as a guided light beam; and
a second grating that is arranged outside the first grating and has a refractive index varying along the moving radius direction and that causes part of the guided light beam to exit from the optical waveguide element as an exiting light beam,

the optical system causes the light beam to enter the first grating and causes a reflected light beam generated by reflection of the exiting light beam on an object to enter the second grating,
part of the reflected light beam entering the second grating propagates in the optical waveguide element and exits from the first grating as an optical feedback beam,
the optical system causes part of the optical feedback beam to enter the light detector as a plurality of separated light beams separated depending on wavelength, and
the light detector detects a light amount of each of the separated light beams.

2. The optical apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first grating has a concentric structure about the point of incidence of the light beam.

3. The optical apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the second grating has a concentric structure about the point of incidence of the light beam.

4. The optical apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one light source is a single light source that emits a single light beam containing the components of the plurality of wavelengths.

5. The optical apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the at least one light source includes a plurality of light sources,
each of the plurality of light sources emits a corresponding one of a plurality of light beams with different wavelengths, and
the optical system integrates the plurality of light beams and causes the integrated light beam to enter the first grating.

6. The optical apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the optical system includes a dichroic mirror that integrates the plurality of light beams.

7. The optical apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the optical system includes a linear diffraction grating that separates part of the optical feedback beam depending on wavelength to generate the plurality of separated light beams.

8. The optical apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein
the linear diffraction grating is a reflection type linear diffraction grating, and
an entrance direction of the light beam and a diffraction direction of the light beam substantially match each other in a plane including a normal line of a diffraction surface of the reflection type linear diffraction grating and a grating vector of the reflection type linear diffraction grating.

9. The optical apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the optical system includes an optical element that converts a wavefront of the light beam to a conical wavefront, and
the optical system causes the light beam to enter the first grating with the conical wavefront maintained.

10. The optical apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the optical system includes a transparent member having a bottom surface that faces the optical waveguide element and a side surface that is a rotationally-symmetrical body having an imaginary axis extending along the light path as a center axis, and
the exiting light beam enters the transparent member from the bottom surface or the side surface and exits from the side surface.

11. The optical apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein
the transparent member is a truncated conical prism,
a bottom surface with a smaller area out of two bottom surfaces of the truncated conical prism facing each other is in contact with a surface of the optical waveguide element, and
the exiting light beam enters a side surface of the truncated conical prism.

12. The optical apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein the side surface of the truncated conical prism includes a grating whose grating line extends along a circumferential direction of the truncated conical prism.

13. The optical apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein
the optical waveguide element includes a hollow substrate on the surface, the hollow substrate including a cavity or a recess with a truncated conical shape having the axis as a center axis, and
the truncated conical prism is surrounded by the cavity or the recess.

14. The optical apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the optical waveguide element includes:
a transparent electrode layer;
a liquid crystal layer;
a waveguide layer including the first grating and the second grating on a surface and having a higher refractive index than the liquid crystal layer;
a dielectric layer having a lower refractive index than the waveguide layer; and
a reflective electrode layer in this order.

15. The optical apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein
the waveguide layer further includes a third grating, used to control alignment of liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer, on the surface between the first grating and the second grating, and
at least one selected from the group consisting of the transparent electrode layer and the reflective electrode layer includes a first electrode facing the first grating, a second electrode facing the second grating, and a third electrode facing the third grating.

16. The optical apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein
the third electrode includes a plurality of divided regions arranged in a circumferential direction of the imaginary circle, and
the plurality of divided regions are insulated from one another.

17. The optical apparatus according to claim 15 , further comprising a control circuit that applies voltage between the transparent electrode layer and the reflective electrode layer.

18. The optical apparatus according to claim 17 , wherein the control circuit controls a direction of the exiting light beam by controlling voltage applied to the liquid crystal layer via the second electrode.

Assignees

• Panasonic Ip Man Co Ltd

Inventors

• Nishiwaki Seiji

Classifications

• G02F1/3138 Primary

  the optical waveguides being made of semiconducting materials · CPC title

• G02F1/295

  {Analog deflection from or} in an optical waveguide structure] · CPC title

• G01B11/00

  Measuring arrangements characterised by the use of optical techniques · CPC title

• G02F1/13

  based on liquid crystals, e.g. single liquid crystal display cells · CPC title