In a method of manufacturing an optical system that comprises at least one beam deflection unit, at least one diaphragm element, and at least one holder for fixing the beam deflection element and the diaphragm element in a predefined arrangement relative to one another, the beam deflection element and a screening element are provided. The beam deflection element and the screening element are fixed by means of the holder such that the actual arrangement of the screening element relative to the beam deflection element corresponds to the predefined arrangement of the diaphragm element relative to the beam deflection element. The beam deflection element is irradiated by the processing light beams such that after a deflection by the beam deflection element the processing light beams are incident on a functional zone of the screening element and change its optical properties by energy emission.

An optical system for collecting distance information within a field is provided. The optical system may include lenses for collecting photons from a field and may include lenses for distributing photons to a field. The optical system may include lens tubes that collimate collected photons, optical filters that reject normally incident light outside of the operating wavelength, and pixels that detect incident photons. The optical system may further include illumination sources that output photons at an operating wavelength.

An optical system for collecting distance information within a field is provided. The optical system may include lenses for collecting photons from a field and may include lenses for distributing photons to a field. The optical system may include lens tubes that collimate collected photons, optical filters that reject normally incident light outside of the operating wavelength, and pixels that detect incident photons. The optical system may further include illumination sources that output photons at an operating wavelength.

A TIRFM-capable microscope including: a light source that generates/emits incoherent excitation light onto an optical path that includes a first projection lens system, a spatial filter, a second projection lens system and an objective. The TIRFM-capable microscope also includes a controller; wherein the first projection lens system projects excitation light onto the spatial filter that filters the excitation light with two-dimensional patterns, the spatial filter lies in a plane conjugate to a back focal plane of the objective which includes an objective lens that directs excitation light onto and receives fluorescent light from the sample, wherein, for a numerical aperture NA.sub.Obj of the objective and a refractive index n.sub.spec of the sample NA.sub.Obj>n.sub.spec, and the controller activates the spatial filter to select/generate various two-dimensional patterns and selects/adjusts the position/shape/size of the pattern such that TIRF illumination of the sample is generated.

A TIRFM-capable microscope including: a light source that generates/emits incoherent excitation light onto an optical path that includes a first projection lens system, a spatial filter, a second projection lens system and an objective. The TIRFM-capable microscope also includes a controller; wherein the first projection lens system projects excitation light onto the spatial filter that filters the excitation light with two-dimensional patterns, the spatial filter lies in a plane conjugate to a back focal plane of the objective which includes an objective lens that directs excitation light onto and receives fluorescent light from the sample, wherein, for a numerical aperture NA.sub.Obj of the objective and a refractive index n.sub.spec of the sample NA.sub.Obj>n.sub.spec, and the controller activates the spatial filter to select/generate various two-dimensional patterns and selects/adjusts the position/shape/size of the pattern such that TIRF illumination of the sample is generated.

According to various embodiments, an optoelectronic computer architecture is described herein for use as a convolutional neural network. The optoelectronic computer architecture includes a four-focal length (4F) optical subsystem that utilizes metasurfaces and lenses in conjunction with a digital electronic subsystem. Digital-to-analog converters and analog-to-digital converters are used to interface the optical subsystem and the digital subsystem. Various 4F lens and metasurface configurations are described herein, including various folded 4F lens configurations.

According to various embodiments, an optoelectronic computer architecture is described herein for use as a convolutional neural network. The optoelectronic computer architecture includes a four-focal length (4F) optical subsystem that utilizes metasurfaces and lenses in conjunction with a digital electronic subsystem. Digital-to-analog converters and analog-to-digital converters are used to interface the optical subsystem and the digital subsystem. Various 4F lens and metasurface configurations are described herein, including various folded 4F lens configurations.

An optical system for performing distance measurements comprising: a bulk transmitter optic having a focal plane; an illumination source comprising a plurality of light emitters aligned to project discrete beams of light through the bulk transmitter optic into a field ahead of the optical system; and a micro-optic channel array disposed between the illumination source and the bulk transmitter optic, the micro-optic channel array defining a plurality of micro-optic channels, each micro-optic channel including a micro-optic lens spaced apart from a light emitter in the plurality of light emitters with the micro-optic lens positioned to receive a light cone from the light emitter and configured to generate a reduced-size spot image of the emitter at a location that is displaced from the emitter and that coincides with the focal plane of the bulk transmitter optic

A method for collimating light using a film including elongated chambers of bistable electrophoretic fluids. The light-collimating films are suitable to control the amount and/or direction of light incident to a transmissive substrate. Such films may be integrated into devices, such as LCD displays, to provide a zone of privacy for a user viewing the LCD display. Because the light-collimating film is switchable, it allows a user to alter the collimation of the emitted light on demand. Because the films are bistable, they do not require additional power after they have been switched to a display state.

An optical system includes a plurality of internal apertures, a plurality of external optical assemblies and a telescope assembly positioned between the plurality of internal apertures and the plurality of external optical assemblies. Each internal aperture is operable to receive a corresponding aperture-specific optical signal. Each external optical assembly corresponds to one of the internal apertures, and each external optical assembly is operable to direct the aperture-specific optical signal of the corresponding internal aperture in a corresponding external direction. The external direction for each external optical assembly is independently controllable and the telescope assembly defines a shared optical train arranged to direct the aperture-specific optical signals between each internal aperture and the corresponding external optical assembly.