Collimating light emitted by a fiber via an array of lenslets on a curved surface

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9921408-B2
Application number	US-201615359461-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 22, 2016
Priority date	Feb 26, 2016
Publication date	Mar 20, 2018
Grant date	Mar 20, 2018

Abstract

An embodiment is directed to an optical element arrangement including at least one optical element. A first optical element includes a fiber and a curved surface. The fiber emits light beams during oscillation at different angular positions relative to a system axis of the first optical element. The curved surface includes an array of lenslets. Each of the lenslets in the array of lenslets is configured to receive light beams from the fiber that are emitted within a particular range of the first curved surface and to collimate the light beams received by the lenslet at a lenslet-specific field angle relative to the system axis. In other embodiments, one or more additional optical elements with respective fibers can be deployed as part of the optical element arrangement, and any of the optical elements in the optical element arrangement may include multiple curved surfaces with respective lenslet arrays.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An optical element arrangement, comprising:
a first optical element, including:
a first fiber configured to emit light beams during oscillation at different angular positions relative to a first system axis of the first optical element; and
a first curved surface including a first array of lenslets, each of the lenslets in the first array of lenslets configured to receive light beams from the first fiber that are emitted within a particular range of the first curved surface and to collimate the light beams received by the lenslet at a lenslet-specific field angle relative to the first system axis.

2. The optical element arrangement of claim 1 , further comprising:
a second optical element, including:
a second fiber configured to emit light beams during oscillation at different angular positions relative to a second system axis of the second optical element; and
a second curved surface including a second array of lenslets, each of the lenslets in the second array of lenslets configured to receive light beams from the second fiber that are emitted within a particular range of the second curved surface and to collimate the light beams received by the lenslet at a lenslet-specific field angle relative to the second system axis.

3. The optical element arrangement of claim 2 ,
wherein the first and second optical elements are proximately located and oriented in the same direction, and
wherein the first and second optical elements are configured for synchronous light beam transmission.

4. The optical element arrangement of claim 2 ,
wherein the first array of lenslets includes a first set of lenslet gaps corresponding to transitions between respective lenslets on the first curved surface,
wherein the second array of lenslets includes a second set of lenslet gaps corresponding to transitions between respective lenslets on the second curved surface, and
wherein the first and second arrays of lenslets are arranged so that the first and second sets of lenslet gaps do not overlap with each other angularly with respect to the first and second system axes, respectively, so that continuous collimation coverage is provided by the first and second optical elements over a target field angle range relative to the first and second system axes.

5. The optical element arrangement of claim 1 , wherein the first optical element further includes:
a second curved surface including a second array of lenslets, each of the lenslets in the second array of lenslets configured to receive light beams from the first fiber that are emitted within a particular range of the second curved surface and to collimate the light beams received by the lenslet at a lenslet-specific field angle relative to the first system axis.

6. The optical element arrangement of claim 5 ,
wherein, relative to the first fiber, the first curved surface corresponds to an inner curved surface and the second curved surface corresponds to an outer curved surface, or
wherein, relative to the first fiber, the first curved surface corresponds to the outer curved surface and the second curved surface corresponds to the inner curved surface.

7. The optical element arrangement of claim 5 ,
wherein the first array of lenslets includes a first set of lenslet gaps corresponding to transitions between respective lenslets on the first curved surface,
wherein the second array of lenslets includes a second set of lenslet gaps corresponding to transitions between respective lenslets on the second curved surface, and
wherein the first and second arrays of lenslets are arranged so that the first and second sets of lenslet gaps do not overlap with each other angularly with respect to the first system axis, so that continuous collimation coverage is provided by the first optical element over a target field angle range relative to the first system axis.

8. The optical element arrangement of claim 1 , wherein each of the lenslets in the first array of lenslets is shaped hemispherically or aspherically.

9. The optical element arrangement of claim 1 , wherein a shape of the first curved surface is configured to conform to a modeled locus of fiber tip positions of the first fiber as the first fiber bends during oscillation.

10. The optical element arrangement of claim 1 , wherein one or more lenslets within the first array of lenslets are configured to conform to a modeled locus of fiber tip positions of the first fiber as the first fiber bends during oscillation.

11. A method of operating an optical element arrangement, comprising:
emitting, by a first fiber of a first optical element, light beams during oscillation at different angular positions relative to a first system axis of the first optical element;
receiving, by a first curved surface of the first optical element, the emitted light beams from the first fiber, the first curved surface including a first array of lenslets that each receive a portion of the emitted light beams from the first fiber within a particular range of the first curved surface; and
collimating, by each of the lenslets in the first array of lenslets, the portion of the emitted light beams received at the first curved surface from the first fiber at a lenslet-specific field angle relative to the first system axis.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
emitting, by a second fiber of a second optical element, light beams during oscillation at different angular positions relative to a second system axis of the second optical element; and
receiving, by a second curved surface of the second optical element, the emitted light beams from the second fiber, the second curved surface including a second array of lenslets that each receive a portion of the emitted light beams from the second fiber within a particular range of the second curved surface; and
collimating, by each of the lenslets in the second array of lenslets, the portion of the emitted light beams received by the second curved surface from the second fiber at a lenslet-specific field angle relative to the first system axis.

13. The method of claim 12 ,
wherein the first and second optical elements are proximately located and oriented in the same direction, and
wherein the first and second optical elements are configured for synchronous light beam transmission.

14. The method of claim 12 ,
wherein the first array of lenslets includes a first set of lenslet gaps corresponding to transitions between respective lenslets on the first curved surface,
wherein the second array of lenslets includes a second set of lenslet gaps corresponding to transitions between respective lenslets on the second curved surface, and
wherein the first and second arrays of lenslets are arranged so that the first and second sets of lenslet gaps do not overlap with each other angularly with respect to the first and second system axes, respectively, so that continuous collimation coverage is provided by the first and second optical elements over a target field angle range relative to the first and second system axes.

15. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
receiving, by a second curved surface of the first optical element, the emitted light beams from the first fiber, the second curved surface including a second array of lenslets that each receive a portion of the emitted light beams from the first fiber within a particular range of the second curved surface; and
collimating, by each of the lenslets in the second array of lenslets, the portion of the emitted light beams received at the second curved surface from the first fiber at a lenslet-specific field angle relative

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Gruhlke Russell

Classifications

• G02B26/103 Primary

  having movable or deformable optical fibres, light guides or waveguides as scanning elements (light guides per se G02B6/00) · CPC title

• G02B2006/0098

  for scanning · CPC title

• G01S7/4818

  using optical fibres · CPC title

• G01S7/4817

  relating to scanning · CPC title

• G02B3/0037

  characterized by the distribution or form of lenses · CPC title