Various embodiments may provide a device for controlling an electromagnetic wave according to various embodiments. The device may include a medium. The device may further include an array of elements in contact with the medium and may be configured to receive the electromagnetic wave. Each element of the array of elements may include a phase change material configured to switch from, at least, a first state to a second state in response to an external input, thereby changing an optical property of the respective element to control the electromagnetic wave.

Displays and eyewear devices incorporating displays are disclosed. One display includes a light source, a first display region, and a second display region. The first display region includes a first contiguous array of pixels. The first contiguous array of pixels includes a first group of pixels and a second group of pixels interspersed with the first group of pixels. The first group of pixels is adapted to emit light from the light source in only a first wavelength band and the second group of pixels is adapted to emit light from the light source in only a second wavelength band different from the first wavelength band. The second display region consists essentially of a second contiguous array of pixels. The second contiguous array of pixels is adapted to emit light from the light source in a predetermined wavelength band.

The invention is notably directed to a transflective display device. The device comprises a set of pixels, wherein each of the pixels comprises a portion of bi-stable, phase change material, hereafter a PCM portion, having at least two reversibly switchable states, in which it has two different values of refractive index and/or optical absorption. The device further comprises one or more spacers, optically transmissive, and extending under PCM portions of the set of pixels. One or more reflectors extend under the one or more spacers. An energization structure is in thermal or electrical communication with the PCM portions, via the one or more spacers. Moreover, a display controller is configured to selectively energize, via the energization structure, PCM portions of the pixels, so as to reversibly switch a state of a PCM portion of any of the pixels from one of its reversibly switchable states to the other. A backlight unit is furthermore configured, in the device, to allow illumination of the PCM portions through the one or more spacers. The backlight unit is controlled by a backlight unit controller, which is configured for modulating one or more physical properties of light emitted from the backlight unit. The invention is further directed to related devices and methods of operation.

A method is provided for operating one or more one solid-state electro-optic device to provide an electrically switching shutter. The method includes forming an alternating stack of first semiconductor layers having a first dopant and second semiconductor layers having a second dopant to form at least one superlattice semiconductor device. The method further includes applying to the at least one superlattice semiconductor device a first voltage to induce a transparent state of the alternating stack such that light is transmitted through the alternating stack, and applying to the at least one superlattice semiconductor device a second voltage different from the first voltage to induce an opaque state of the alternating stack such that light is inhibited from passing through the alternating stack.

A head-mounted apparatus include an eyepiece that include a variable dimming assembly and a frame mounting the eyepiece so that a user side of the eyepiece faces a towards a user and a world side of the eyepiece opposite the first side faces away from the user. The dynamic dimming assembly selectively modulates an intensity of light transmitted parallel to an optical axis from the world side to the user side during operation. The dynamic dimming assembly includes a variable birefringence cell having multiple pixels each having an independently variable birefringence, a first linear polarizer arranged on the user side of the variable birefringence cell, the first linear polarizer being configured to transmit light propagating parallel to the optical axis linearly polarized along a pass axis of the first linear polarizer orthogonal to the optical axis, a quarter wave plate arranged between the variable birefringence cell and the first linear polarizer, a fast axis of the quarter wave plate being arranged relative to the pass axis of the first linear polarizer to transform linearly polarized light transmitted by the first linear polarizer into circularly polarized light, and a second linear polarizer on the world side of the variable birefringence cell.

A liquid crystal device in one aspect of the present disclosure includes a liquid crystal layer, and an electrode layer configured to form an electric field in the liquid crystal layer. The liquid crystal layer includes a liquid crystal composition in which an organic compound having a property of inhibiting a polymerization reaction caused by light action is added to a liquid crystal mixture as a polymerization inhibitor.

We describe a multimode reconfigurable optical spatial mode multiplexing system having first and second first and second input beams and a beam combiner to combine these into an optical output. At least one of the paths comprises a polarisation-independent reconfigurable phase modulator to impose a controllable phase profile on an input beam in an input beam phase modulating optical path, to controllably convert a spatial mode order of the input beam from a lower to a higher order spatial mode. The system also has a control input to control the phase modulator to configure the phase profile for the mode conversion. The input beams are combined into a multiple spatial mode combined beam output independent of a polarisation of the input beams. The number of spatial modes of the combined beam can be more than a number of spatial modes in either of the first and second input beams separately.

A display device includes: a projection unit that emits light depending on a first picture signal, the first picture signal including three primary color signals; a display unit that includes a screen, a transmissive liquid crystal panel, and a polarizing plate, the transmissive liquid crystal panel changing a polarizing direction of each of three primary color lights from the projection unit, depending on a second picture signal including three primary color signals; and a display control unit that generates the first picture signal and the second picture signal from an input picture signal including three primary color signals, and that outputs a picture signal for controlling the projection unit based on the first picture signal and controlling the transmissive liquid crystal panel based on the second picture signal.

A digitally programmable multifocal optics method of selectively focusing incident light at a plurality of focal points along an optical axis. A multifocal system that enables selective focusing of incident light at a plurality of focal points along an optical axis. A high-speed digital multi-focal optical element includes a multi-focal lens and either a programmable optical shutter array (POSA) or a programmable spatial light modulator (SLM).

A laser system and method include a self-referencing shaper. A self-referencing pulse shaper is provided in an embodiment. Another aspect of a laser system includes at least one beam splitter splitting a reference beam from a working beam and a test beam, a delay optic delaying a reference laser beam, an active shaper, an interferometer, and a programmable controller. In another aspect, a method includes splitting an input laser pulse into a reference pulse and a shaping pulse, controlling phase and amplitude of the shaping pulse with an adjustable pulse shaper, creating an optical delay of the reference pulse, comparing a test pulse and the reference pulse after the controlling and delay, the laser system characterizing the input laser pulse and monitoring the laser system's own dispersion in a self-referenced manner, and correcting an output working laser pulse by adjusting the pulse shaper based on the comparing step.