A polarization control member includes a first dichroic mirror having a first incident face, a second dichroic mirror joined to the first dichroic mirror, the second dichroic mirror having a second incident face, and a waveplate joined to the first incident face of the first dichroic mirror.

Example embodiments relate to beam homogenization for occlusion avoidance. One embodiment includes a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) device. The LIDAR device includes a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter includes a light emitter. The light emitter emits light that diverges along a fast-axis and a slow-axis. The transmitter also includes a fast-axis collimation (FAC) lens optically coupled to the light emitter. The FAC lens is configured to receive light emitted by the light emitter and reduce a divergence of the received light along the fast-axis of the light emitter to provide reduced-divergence light. The transmitter further includes a transmit lens optically coupled to the FAC lens. The transmit lens is configured to receive the reduced-divergence light from the FAC lens and provide transmit light. The FAC lens is positioned relative to the light emitter such that the reduced-divergence light is expanded at the transmit lens.

The disclosure describes various aspects of techniques for elliptical beam design using cylindrical optics that may be used in different applications, including in quantum information processing (QIP) systems. In an aspect, the disclosure describes an optical system having a first optical component having a first focal length, a second optical component having a second focal length and aligned with a first direction, and a third optical component having a third focal length and aligned with a second direction orthogonal to the first direction. The optical system is configured to receive one or more optical beams (e.g., circular or elliptical) and apply different magnifications in the first direction and the second direction to the one or more optical beams to image one or more elliptical Gaussian optical beams. A method for generating elliptical optical beams using a system as the one described above is also disclosed.

The present invention is related to a thermal laser evaporation system (10), the thermal laser evaporation system (10) comprising: a laser light source (30) for providing a thermal laser beam (34) for evaporating one or more materials (22) from a source (20); a thermal laser beam shaping system (40) comprising a collimation lens (42) and a focusing lens (44) for directing the thermal laser beam (34) onto the source (20); a vacuum chamber (12); a vacuum window (14) for conducting the thermal laser beam (34) into the vacuum chamber (12); and an aperture (16) arranged within the vacuum chamber (12) between the vacuum window (14) and the source (20).

Further, the present invention is related to a method of providing a thermal laser beam (34) at a source (20) in order to evaporate one or more materials (22) from the source (20); the method comprising the steps of: providing a thermal laser beam (34); directing the thermal laser beam (34) via a thermal laser beam shaping system (40) comprising a collimation lens (42), a shaping device (60) and a focusing lens (44) into a vacuum chamber (12) comprising a vacuum window (12) for conducting the thermal laser beam (34) into the vacuum chamber (12) and through an aperture (16) arranged within the vacuum chamber (12) at the source (20).

A light irradiation device includes: a light source configured to output light having coherence; a light focusing element having a focusing axis and a non-focusing axis intersecting with the focusing axis and configured to focus the light on a focusing line so as to generate planar light; and an aperture mask having an opening part that limits a part of luminous fluxes of the light transmitted from the light source to the light focusing element. The opening part of the aperture mask has opening edges disposed to extend in a direction along the focusing axis of the light focusing element, and, in a case in which the opening edges are projected onto the focusing line, corresponding projected portions have linear spreads.

A light source unit includes a laser diode and a collimator lens having an entrance portion and an exit portion, with light emitted from the laser diode being incident light which is caused to enter the collimator lens. The laser diode is disposed so that a direction of a major axis of an elliptic cross section which intersects an axis of the incident light at right angles is defined as a direction of a first axis, and the entrance portion includes an elongated recess portion which is formed into a recess shape which is curved inwards towards a direction in which the incident light exits. In addition, a recessed edge of the elongated recess portion in a cross section, which intersects the first axis at right angles, is formed into an arc shape, and the incident light which enters the entrance portion is caused to exit from the exit portion.

A head-up display device projects display light from a display including a backlight unit and a liquid crystal display element on a viewpoint area of a viewer via projection means and causes an image by the display light to be visually recognized. The backlight unit includes: a light source emitting light for illuminating the liquid crystal display element; a lens array including a plurality of lenses, and dividing the light from the light source and generating a plurality of images of the light source; and light gathering means which gather the light from the images of the light source such that the light corresponds to a display area of the liquid crystal display element, wherein the lens array is configured such that the light distribution angles of the lenses at the periphery thereof are different from the light distribution angles of the lenses at the center thereof.

An illumination apparatus includes a plurality of LED chips arranged to form an LED array, light from the plurality of LED chips superimpose to project a light intensity distribution projected on the predetermined plane; a pair of lens arrays each including a plurality of lenses and configured to collect light from the LED arrays; a driving unit configured to adjust a distance between the pair of lens arrays and change the light intensity distribution projected on the predetermined plane; and a control unit for individually controlling the output of the first and second LED arrays.

Provided is a light illuminating apparatus for irradiating light of a line shape extending in a first direction and having a line width in a second direction. The light illuminating apparatus includes light emitting units, each including a substrate, light sources arranged at an interval along the first direction on the substrate and placed such that a direction of an optical axis is matched to a direction perpendicular to the substrate surface, and optical devices placed on optical paths of each light source to shape light from each light source into light with a predetermined divergence angle, wherein the light emitting units are arranged on an arc having its center at the irradiation position when viewed in the first direction, and an irradiation width in the second direction of light from the light emitting units is approximately equal within a preset range in a direction perpendicular to the irradiation surface.

A catheter system for optical coherence tomography includes an elongate catheter body, an optical fiber in the elongate catheter body, and an anamorphic lens assembly coupled with a distal end of the optical fiber. The optical fiber and the lens assembly are together configured to provide a common path for optical radiation reflected from a target and from a reference interface between the distal end of the optical fiber and the lens assembly.