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- Nachgewiesen in: USPTO Patent Applications
- Sprachen: English
- Document Number: 20060177178
- Publication Date: August 10, 2006
- Appl. No: 11/280876
- Application Filed: November 15, 2005
- Claim: 1. An optical apparatus, comprising an optical element having a set of at least two diffractive elements, wherein: each diffractive element diffracts a corresponding diffracted component of an incident optical field with a corresponding diffractive element transfer function so that the diffractive element set collectively provides an overall set transfer function between an entrance optical port and an exit optical port; each diffractive element comprises at least one diffracting region and is spatially defined with respect to a corresponding one of a set of diffractive element virtual contours, the diffracting regions having at least one altered optical property so as to enable diffraction of a portion of the incident optical field; the virtual contours of the diffractive element virtual contour set are spatially arranged so that, if diffracting regions of the corresponding diffractive elements were to spatially coincide with the virtual contours, the resulting superposition of the diffracted field components at a design wavelength would exhibit maximal constructive interference at the exit port; the set of diffractive elements comprises at least one subset having at least two diffractive elements; and the overall set transfer function is determined at least in part by longitudinal displacement of at least two diffractive elements of at least one of the subsets relative to the corresponding virtual contours.
- Claim: 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the longitudinal displacement of the diffractive elements of the subset results in at least two diffractive elements of at least one of the subsets being spaced apart by a distance less than the distance between the corresponding virtual contours.
- Claim: 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein each of the displaced diffractive elements of the subset is displaced from its corresponding virtual contour by the same subset displacement distance.
- Claim: 4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein: the subset of diffractive elements comprises an even number of diffractive elements; diffractive elements of a first half of the diffractive element subset are displaced toward a corresponding central virtual contour in a first longitudinal direction, and diffractive elements of a second half of the diffractive element subset are displaced toward the corresponding central virtual contour in a second longitudinal direction, the corresponding central virtual contour being located between the first and second halves of the subset; and the diffractive element subset lacks a diffractive element corresponding to the central virtual contour.
- Claim: 5. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein: the subset of diffractive elements comprises an odd number 2N+1 of diffractive elements; and diffractive elements of a first group of N elements of the diffractive element subset are displaced toward a central diffractive element of the subset in a first longitudinal direction, and diffractive elements of a second group of N elements of the diffractive element subset are displaced toward the central diffractive element in a second longitudinal direction, the central diffractive element of the subset being located between the first and second groups of N elements of the subset.
- Claim: 6. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the diffractive element set comprises multiple diffractive element subsets, and the subset displacement distance varies among the multiple diffractive element subsets so as to yield a desired set transfer function for the diffractive element set.
- Claim: 7. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the longitudinal displacement of the diffractive elements of the subset results in the diffractive elements of the subset being substantially uniformly spaced apart by a subset element spacing that is less than the distance between the corresponding virtual contours.
- Claim: 8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the diffractive element set comprises multiple diffractive element subsets, and the subset element spacing varies among the multiple diffractive element subsets so as to yield a desired set transfer function for the diffractive element set.
- Claim: 9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each subset of diffractive elements comprises two or more diffractive elements.
- Claim: 10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each subset of diffractive element comprises less than about fifty diffractive elements.
- Claim: 11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the diffractive element set comprises multiple diffractive element subsets, and the number of diffractive elements in each subset varies among the multiple subsets so a to yield a desired set transfer function.
- Claim: 12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the diffractive element set comprises multiple diffractive element subsets, and relative longitudinal displacements of the multiple subsets at least in part determine a desired set transfer function.
- Claim: 13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the longitudinal displacement of the diffractive elements of the subset results in at least two diffractive elements of at least one of the subsets being spaced apart by a distance greater than the distance between the corresponding virtual contours.
- Claim: 14. The optical apparatus of claim 1, wherein the optical element comprises a channel waveguide substantially confining in two transverse dimensions optical fields propagating in one dimensions therein, each of the diffractive element virtual contours being a curvilinear virtual contour, each of the diffracting regions being a curvilinear diffracting segment.
- Claim: 15. The optical apparatus of claim 1, wherein the optical element comprises a planar waveguide substantially confining in one transverse dimension optical fields propagating in two dimensions therein, each of the diffractive element virtual contours being a curvilinear virtual contour, each of the diffracting regions being a curvilinear diffracting segment.
- Claim: 16. The optical apparatus of claim 1, wherein the optical element enables propagation of optical fields in three dimensions therein, each of the diffractive element virtual contours being a surface virtual contour, each of the diffracting regions being a diffracting surface areal segment.
- Claim: 17. The optical apparatus of claim 1, wherein the optical element comprises a diffraction grating, each of the diffractive element virtual contours being a curvilinear virtual contour, each of the diffracting regions being a curvilinear diffracting segment.
- Claim: 18. An optical apparatus, comprising a channel waveguide having a set of diffractive elements and an index-compensating structure, wherein: each diffractive element diffracts a corresponding diffracted component of an incident optical field with a corresponding diffractive element transfer function so that the diffractive element set collectively provides an overall set transfer function between an entrance optical port and an exit optical port; each diffractive element comprises at least one diffracting region having at least one altered optical property so as to enable diffraction of a portion of the incident optical field; the diffractive elements exhibit a designed longitudinal variation in diffracted amplitude or spatial phase along at least a portion of the channel waveguide so as to yield a desired set transfer function; and the index-compensating structure exhibits a designed longitudinal variation along at least a portion of the channel waveguide so as to yield, in conjunction with the longitudinal variation of the diffractive elements, a waveguide modal index that is longitudinally substantially invariant along at least a portion of the channel waveguide.
- Claim: 19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein: the diffracting regions comprise regions exhibiting a refractive index differential with respect to immediately adjacent portions of the waveguide; the diffractive elements exhibit longitudinal variation in transverse extent; the index-compensating structure exhibits a refractive index differential with respect to immediately adjacent portions of the waveguide; and the index-compensating structure exhibits longitudinal variation in transverse extent so as to yield, in conjunction with the longitudinal variation in the transverse extent of the diffractive elements, a waveguide modal index that is longitudinally substantially invariant along at least a portion of the channel waveguide.
- Claim: 20. An optical apparatus, comprising an optical element having a set of at least two diffractive elements, wherein: each diffractive element diffracts a corresponding diffracted component of an incident optical field with a corresponding diffractive element transfer function between an entrance optical port and an exit optical port and are arranged so that the diffractive element set collectively provides an overall set transfer function between the entrance optical port and the exit optical port; each diffractive element comprises at least one diffracting region having at least one altered optical property so as to enable diffraction of a portion of the incident optical field; and the diffracting regions of each diffractive element are arranged so as to provide the corresponding diffractive element transfer function between the entrance optical port and the exit optical port.
- Claim: 21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein: each diffractive element comprises at least two diffracting regions; and the diffracting regions of each diffractive element are arranged so as to collectively provide the corresponding diffractive element transfer function between the entrance optical port and the exit optical port.
- Claim: 22. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the optical element: a) comprises a channel waveguide substantially confining in two transverse dimensions optical fields propagating in one dimension therein, each of the diffracting regions being a curvilinear diffracting segment; b) comprises a planar waveguide substantially confining in one transverse dimension optical fields propagating in two dimensions therein, each of the diffracting regions being a curvilinear diffracting segment; c) enables propagation of optical fields in three dimensions therein, each of the diffracting regions being a diffracting surface areal segment; or d) comprises a diffraction grating, each of the diffracting regions being a curvilinear diffracting segment.
- Claim: 23. An optical apparatus, comprising an optical element having a set of at least three diffractive elements, wherein: each diffractive element diffracts a corresponding diffracted component of an incident optical field with a corresponding diffractive element transfer function between an entrance optical port and an exit optical port and are arranged so that the diffractive element set collectively provides an overall set transfer function between the entrance optical port and the exit optical port; each diffractive element comprises at least one diffracting region having at least one altered optical property so as to enable diffraction of a portion of the incident optical field; and the diffractive elements are arranged so as to exhibit a longitudinal variation in longitudinal spacing between adjacent elements, the longitudinal variation determining at least in part the overall set transfer function.
- Claim: 24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein: the diffractive element set comprises multiple diffractive element subsets; and longitudinal spacing of adjacent diffractive elements varies among the multiple subsets, resulting in a corresponding variation in diffracted amplitude among the multiple subsets, the variation in diffracted amplitude among the multiple subsets determining at least in part the overall set transfer function.
- Claim: 25. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the optical element: a) comprises a channel waveguide substantially confining in two transverse dimensions optical fields propagating in one dimension therein, each of the diffracting regions being a curvilinear diffracting segment; b) comprises a planar waveguide substantially confining in one transverse dimension optical fields propagating in two dimensions therein, each of the diffracting regions being a curvilinear diffracting segment; c) enables propagation of optical fields in three dimensions therein, each of the diffracting regions being a diffracting surface areal segment; or d) comprises a diffraction grating, each of the diffracting regions being a curvilinear diffracting segment.
- Current U.S. Class: 385037/000
- Current International Class: 02
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