Optical beam former and maskless character projector

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025216054-A1
Application number	US-202519087514-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 23, 2025
Priority date	Sep 23, 2022
Publication date	Jul 3, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

An optical beam former for generating an emerging light beam from an incident light beam includes a condenser lens array for receiving the incident light beam, wherein the condenser lens array includes a plurality of condenser lenses. The optical beam former includes a projection lens array arranged parallel to the condenser lens array for emitting the incident light beam, wherein the projection lens array comprises a plurality of projection lenses. The condenser lens array comprises at least one cluster of condenser lenses, wherein each condenser lens of the cluster comprises an aperture adapted to a subarea of an overall pattern projected by the optical beam former to provide, for the projection lens array, part of the incident light beam associated with the subarea of the overall pattern. A combination of the apertures of the condenser lenses is adapted to the overall pattern.

First claim

1 . Optical beam former for generating an emerging light beam from an incident light beam, the optical beam former comprising:
a condenser lens array for receiving the incident light beam, wherein the condenser lens array comprises a plurality of condenser lenses; and a projection lens array arranged parallel to the condenser lens array for emitting the emerging light beam, wherein the projection lens array comprises a plurality of projection lenses, wherein the condenser lens array comprises at least one cluster of condenser lenses, wherein each condenser lens of the cluster comprises an aperture adapted to a subarea of an overall pattern projected by the optical beam former to provide, for the projection lens array, part of the incident light beam associated with the subarea of the overall pattern; wherein a combination of the apertures of the condenser lenses is adapted to the overall pattern; wherein the overall pattern is a graphic to be illustrated; wherein each subarea images a subgraphic of the overall pattern; wherein the aperture of the condenser lens is a boundary of the condenser lens and is formed geometrically similar to outer boundaries of the respective subarea.

2 . Optical beam former according to claim 1 , which is formed as a maskless character projector; and/or is formed without a buried slide structure.

3 . Optical beam former according to claim 1 , wherein an intermediate area between apertures of adjacent condenser lenses of the cluster is configured as a light-scattering area.

4 . Optical beam former according to claim 3 , wherein several intermediate areas of the condenser lens array are equally distributed or symmetrically arranged within a tolerance range in at least one of a segment of the cluster, in the cluster or in a group of several clusters.

5 . Optical beam former according to claim 3 , wherein a filling factor of the condenser lenses in the cluster and/or in the condenser lens array is at least 70% and an area proportion of intermediate areas between adjacent apertures is at most 30%.

6 . Optical beam former according to claim 3 , wherein a condenser lens of the cluster comprises an aperture area and the aperture area is filled to a channel area by means of an intermediate area at least partially surrounding the aperture area; and a plurality of channel areas are combined in the cluster in an area-filling arrangement.

7 . Optical beam former according to claim 1 , wherein a condenser lens aperture is arranged offset with respect to a vertex of a projection lens associated with the condenser lens to adjust a direction of a projection effected through the projection lens.

8 . Optical beam former according to claim 1 , wherein the cluster comprises a segment with a plurality of condenser lenses whose respective aperture is adapted to the same subarea of the overall pattern; or
wherein the cluster comprises a plurality of condenser lenses, and each subarea of the overall pattern is projected multiple times through the cluster; wherein the condenser lenses of the cluster are arranged parqueted in the condenser lens array.

9 . Optical beam former according to claim 1 , wherein the cluster comprises a plurality of segments arranged adjacent to each other, and each segment comprises a plurality of condenser lenses configured for projecting an identical subarea of the overall pattern; and adjacent segments are formed in the cluster for projecting different subareas of the overall pattern, wherein light-scattering areas are arranged between condenser lenses of the condenser lens array for a uniform scattered light distribution in the projected pattern.

10 . Optical beam former according to claim 1 , wherein the condenser lens array comprises a plurality of clusters arranged in a parqueted manner.

11 . Optical beam former according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of projection lenses each comprise an aperture whose geometry is independent of a geometry of the overall pattern and/or is different from a geometry of an aperture of an opposing condenser lens.

12 . Optical beam former according to claim 1 , wherein each condenser lens of the condenser lens array is associated with a projection lens, and the associated projection lens comprises an individual decentering with respect to the associated condenser lens for superimposing the partial images to image the overall pattern in the hyperfocal region.

13 . Projector comprising:
an optical beam former according to claim 1 ; and a light source for providing the incident light beam.

14 . Projector according to claim 13 , wherein the light source comprises a collimated light source.

15 . Projector according to claim 13 , wherein the plurality of projection lenses comprise an aperture whose shape is adapted to a far-field distribution of the light source.

16 . Projector according to claim 14 , comprising focusing optics or individual projection lens decentering for focusing the overall pattern or correct superposition of channel images into an imaging plane.

17 . Method for providing an optical beam former for generating an emerging light beam from an incident light beam, the method comprising:
providing a condenser lens array for receiving the incident light beam, such that the condenser lens array comprises a plurality of condenser lenses; and arranging a projection lens array set up to emit the emerging light beam parallel to the condenser lens array, such that the projection lens array comprises a plurality of projection lenses, such that the condenser lens array comprises at least one cluster of condenser lenses, wherein each condenser lens of the cluster comprises an aperture adapted to a subarea of an overall pattern projected by the optical beam former to provide, for the projection lens array, part of the incident light beam associated with the subarea of the overall pattern; such that a combination of the apertures of the condenser lenses is adapted to the overall pattern; such that the overall pattern is a graphic to be illustrated; such that each subarea images a subgraphic of the overall pattern; such that the aperture of the condenser lens is a boundary of the condenser lens and is formed geometrically similar to outer boundaries of the respective subarea.

18 . Method for configuring a condenser lens array with a plurality of condenser lenses for an optical beam former, comprising:
splitting an overall area of an overall pattern to be projected, which is a graphic to be illustrated, into a plurality of subareas as a subgraphic of the graphic to be illustrated; adapting a respective aperture of a condenser lens of the condenser lens array to one of the plurality of subareas; to project each of the plurality of subareas with at least one adapted condenser lens; such that the aperture of the condenser lens is a boundary of the condenser lens and is formed geometrically similar to outer boundaries of the respective subarea; positioning the plurality of condenser lenses in the condenser lens array.

19 . The method according to claim 18 , wherein the condenser lenses are configured such that an aspect ratio between a largest expansion and a smallest expansion of the aperture of each condenser lens comprises a value of at most 4; or
wherein the condenser lenses are configured such that condenser lenses of the cluster differ from one another by a factor of at most 5 in relation to a maximum expansion of the aperture.

20 . Method according to claim 18 , wherein positioning comprises parqueting the condens

Assignees

• Fraunhofer Ges Forschung
• Univ Jena Friedrich Schiller

Inventors

• Schreiber Peter
• Kundu Rohan
• Michaelis Dirk

Classifications

• G02B27/0961

  Lens arrays (lens arrays per se G02B3/0006) · CPC title

• G02B3/0062

  Stacked lens arrays, i.e. refractive surfaces arranged in at least two planes, without structurally separate optical elements in-between · CPC title

• G02B3/0056 Primary

  arranged along two different directions in a plane, e.g. honeycomb arrangement of lenses (G02B3/0043 takes precedence; miniaturised objectives for electronic devices employing wafer level optics G02B13/0085) · CPC title

• F21V5/008 Primary

  Combination of two or more successive refractors along an optical axis · CPC title