An article of jewelry comprising; a frame; and a decorative element secured within the frame, wherein two-dimensional array of optical phase shifting structures is embedded in the decorative element; wherein the two-dimensional array of optical phase shifting structures project an image when illuminated with a light source.

A method for producing a diffractive optical element and a diffractive optical element are disclosed. In an embodiment a method for producing a diffractive optical element includes generating a surface structure by implanting ions into a material of a substrate, a layer or a layer system, wherein the surface structure includes a structure height of less than 10 nm.

A method of fabricating a surface-relief structure in a material layer (e.g., including dielectric or semiconductor material) includes forming a mask layer on the material layer, implanting ions (e.g., using ion beam implantation or ion beam etching) into a plurality of regions of the material layer using the mask layer and an ion beam having a slant angle equal to or greater than 0° (e.g., greater than about 30° or about 45°) with respect to a surface normal direction of the material layer to increase the oxidation rate (or reduction rate) of the plurality of regions of the material layer, selectively oxidizing (or reducing) the plurality of regions of the material layer that include implanted ions, and selectively etching the oxidized or reduced materials in the plurality of regions of the material layer to form the surface-relief structure in the material layer.

Technologies for silicon diffraction gratings are disclosed. In some embodiments, grating lines of the diffraction gratings may have several sub-lines that make up each grating line of the diffraction grating. The sub-lines may be sub-wavelength features. In some embodiments, several silicon diffraction gratings may be made from a wafer, such as a wafer with a diameter of 300 millimeters. The wafer may be etched precisely across the entire wafer, leading to a high yield of the diffraction gratings.

An optical lens device includes an optical substrate layer, an etched miniature-structure polarization layer and an etched miniature surface structure. The optical substrate layer is provided with a first surface and a second surface and a ray of light passes through the optical substrate layer. The etched miniature-structure polarization layer is provided on the first surface or the second surface of the optical substrate layer. The etched miniature surface structure is etched to form the miniature-structure etched polarization layer and provides a characteristic of optical polarization in the etched miniature-structure polarization layer. The etched miniature surface structure of the etched miniature-structure polarization layer provides an effect of optical polarization to the ray of light while passing through it.

A diffraction device includes a ZnS member and a ZnSe member coupled to the ZnS member, and a diffraction grating is provided on the ZnSe member.

A diffractive optical element comprises a substrate, a first resin layer arranged on the substrate and a second resin layer arranged on the first resin layer. Each of the first resin layer and the second resin layer includes a grating section, or a layer portion, for forming a diffraction grating and a base section, or another layer portion, held in contact with the grating section. Either the first resin layer or the second resin layer has a lower transmittance portion in the base section thereof that shows an internal transmittance relative to a wavelength of 400 nm which is lower than that of the grating section of the resin layer by not less than 2% and not more than 6%.

Nanoassembly methods for producing quasi-3D plasmonic films with periodic nanoarrays of nano-sized surface features. A sacrificial layer is deposited on a surface of a donor substrate having periodic nanoarrays of nanopattern features formed thereon. A plasmon film is deposited onto the sacrificial layer and a dielectric spacer is deposited on the plasmon film. The donor substrate having the sacrificial layer, plasmon film, and dielectric spacer thereon is immersed in a bath of etchant to selectively remove the sacrificial layer such that the plasmon film and the dielectric spacer thereon adhere to the surface of the donor substrate. The dielectric spacer and the plasmon film are mechanically separated from the donor substrate to define a quasi-three dimensional (3D) plasmonic film having periodic nanoarrays of nano-sized surface features defined by the nanopattern features of the donor substrate surface. The quasi-3D plasmonic film is then applied to a receiver substrate.

An optical device includes first and second planar substrates having respective first and second faces and including first and second diffractive structure disposed respectively on the first and second faces. First and second planar electrodes are disposed respectively on the first and second faces. A mount holds the second planar substrate parallel to the first planar substrate, with the second face adjacent to the first face and with the first and second planar electrodes in mutual proximity, while permitting the second planar substrate to move transversely relative to the first planar substrate. A control circuit is coupled to apply an electrical potential between the first and second planar electrodes with a voltage sufficient to shift the second diffractive structure transversely relative to the first diffractive structure.

The invention concerns a method of manufacturing a modulated optically diffractive grating and a corresponding grating. The method comprises providing a substrate and manufacturing a plurality of temporary elements onto the substrate, the temporary elements being arranged in a periodic pattern comprising at least two periods having different element characteristics. Next, a first deposition layer is deposited so as to at least partially cover the temporary elements with the first deposition layer and the temporary elements are removed from the substrate in order to form onto the substrate a modulated diffractive grating of first grating elements made of the first deposition layer, the pattern comprising within each period a plurality of first grating elements and one more gaps between the first grating elements. The invention allows for producing high-quality gratings with locally varying diffraction efficiency.