The present invention generally provides systems, methods and ophthalmic lenses for image display of a virtual image, such as the display of a holographic image. According to the invention, an ophthalmic lens is advantageously configured for optimizing the visualization of said displayed virtual images.

The apertures typically used for hologram recording create unwanted secondary holograms by diffracting light. Aperture-free hologram recording eliminates these unwanted secondary holograms. Aperture-free hologram recording includes applying a mask to the holographic recording medium. The mask controls the size of the recorded hologram like an aperture but does not create unwanted secondary holograms. Hologram fringes are only present in the desired recording area and a thin boundary region. The mask may be present during recording, or the mask may be used to pre-bleach the holographic recording medium. Pre-bleaching the holographic recording medium renders a portion of the holographic recording medium insensitive to light, the hologram is recorded in the light-sensitive portions of the holographic recording medium.

Methods and systems for forming holographic gratings are described herein. The methods and systems may decrease the amount of haze produced during exposure of a holographic recording medium. In some embodiments, the methods and systems include a holographic recording medium; a master hologram containing a grating; and a light source and moveable deflector configured to diffract light through the master hologram into the holographic medium to form a holographic interference pattern. The moveable deflector is configured to move in a direction parallel to the extending direction of the grating. Advantageously, moving the light in this direction allows the holographic interference pattern to remain stationary while there is a spatio-temporal displacement and cancellation of unwanted intensity nonuniformities.

A deflection optical element, which diffracts incident light, includes a substrate having translucency, and a holographic material layer disposed so as to overlap the substrate, the holographic material layer being formed with a diffraction grating composed of interference fringes, wherein the holographic material layer is formed with an alignment mark where the interference fringes are discontinuous, and the alignment mark is located in an optically effective area where the holographic material layer diffracts the incident light.

[Problem] Propagation of parallel light inside thin glass or plastic material had not been considered to be feasible because of difficulties in producing parallel light with large aspect ratio and in light-guiding it into thin material. For this reason, there had been a problem that holograms of edge-lit reproduction type were not being brought to practical use.

[Means for Solution] A compact, simple collimator optics has been successfully made by placing a holographic diffraction grating close to a diverging light source to propagate it at the critical angle inside the medium. By making an array of this diffraction grating it has become possible to propagate parallel light of any aspect ratio inside a thin plate. Hitherto unrealized image display devices and signal devices have become possible by using the holographic diffraction gratings as described in the foregoing, or other diffraction optical elements, to introduce light from a plurality of light sources, in combination with edge-lit reproduction type image holograms.

Typical waveguides rely on total internal reflection between the outer surfaces of substrates, which can make them highly susceptible to beam misalignment caused by nonplanarity of the substrates. In the manufacturing of the glass sheets commonly used for substrates, ripples can occur during the stretching and drawing of glass as it emerges from a furnace. Although glass manufacturers try to minimize ripples using predictions from mathematical models, it is difficult to totally eradicate the problem from the glass manufacturing process. Typically, these beam misalignments manifest themselves as image distortions and non-uniformities in the output illumination from the waveguide. Many embodiments of the invention are directed toward optically efficient, low cost solutions to the problem of controlling output image quality in waveguides manufactured using commercially available substrate glass and to the problem of compensating the image distortions and non-uniformity of curved waveguides.

Systems, devices, and methods for aperture-free hologram recording are described. The apertures typically used for hologram recording create unwanted secondary holograms by diffracting light. Aperture-free hologram recording eliminates these unwanted secondary holograms. Aperture-free hologram recording includes applying a mask to the holographic recording medium. The mask controls the size of the recorded hologram like an aperture but does not create unwanted secondary holograms. Hologram fringes are only present in the desired recording area and a thin boundary region. The mask may be present during recording, or the mask may be used to pre-bleach the holographic recording medium. Pre-bleaching the holographic recording medium renders a portion of the holographic recording medium insensitive to light, the hologram is recorded in the light-sensitive portions of the holographic recording medium.

Systems, devices, and methods for aperture-free hologram recording are described. The apertures typically used for hologram recording create unwanted secondary holograms by diffracting light. Aperture-free hologram recording eliminates these unwanted secondary holograms. Aperture-free hologram recording includes applying a mask to the holographic recording medium. The mask controls the size of the recorded hologram like an aperture but does not create unwanted secondary holograms. Hologram fringes are only present in the desired recording area and a thin boundary region. The mask may be present during recording, or the mask may be used to pre-bleach the holographic recording medium. Pre-bleaching the holographic recording medium renders a portion of the holographic recording medium insensitive to light, the hologram is recorded in the light-sensitive portions of the holographic recording medium.

An optical element of the present disclosure includes a hologram layer, a resin substrate to which the hologram layer is adhered, and a holder portion that supports the resin substrate and has a thermal expansion coefficient smaller than that of the resin substrate. One of the holder portion and the resin substrate includes a contact surface along an axis extending in a plate thickness direction of the resin substrate, and the other of the holder portion and the resin substrate includes a pressing surface that presses the contact surface.

A method for manufacturing an optical element according to the present disclosure includes, a first step of, after affixing a hologram forming material to a glass substrate having a marking portion, performing interference exposure on the hologram forming material, thereby forming a hologram layer at the glass substrate, and a second step of affixing the hologram layer peeled off from the glass substrate to a plastic substrate having a first alignment mark, wherein in the second step, the first alignment mark on the plastic substrate, and a second alignment mark formed at a position corresponding to the marking portion in the hologram layer during the interference exposure are used to implement positioning of the plastic substrate and the hologram layer.