A method for compensating beam angle variation of a beam bundle of laser beams with respective beam angles includes generating the beam bundle using a diffractive optical element, determining a beam angle value from a beam angle of at least one laser beam of a first subset of the laser beams, detecting a light pattern projected by a second subset of the laser beams, and evaluating the light pattern. The evaluation is performed taking into account the beam angle variation of the beam angles of the second subset of the laser beams on the basis of the determined beam angle value.

The invention discloses an optical system for generating arbitrary-order optical vortex arrays and finite optical lattices with defects, comprising a laser, a collimating and beam-expanding system, a spatial light modulator, a 4-f lens system, and an image detector which are disposed according to a light path. After passing through the collimating and beam-expanding system, the linearly-polarized Gaussian beam emitted by the laser is radiated to the spatial light modulator to be modulated in complex amplitude; the first-order diffraction beam of the emergent light generates an arbitrary-order alternating optical vortex array on the back focal plane of the first 2-f lens system, and an adjustable finite optical lattice with defects on the back focal plane of the second 2-f lens system. The topological charge value of each vortex and the spacing between vortices, in the generated arbitrary-order alternating optical vortex array, can be precisely controlled.

Beam steering devices include a laser and a metasurface for dynamic beam shaping of laser light. A steering actuator may adjust a metasurface with respect to a laser to dynamically shape the beam. Lasers in a plurality of lasers may be selectively activated to generate a desired beam shape.

A virtual image generation system comprises a planar optical waveguide having opposing first and second faces, an in-coupling (IC) element configured for optically coupling a collimated light beam from an image projection assembly into the planar optical waveguide as an in-coupled light beam, a first orthogonal pupil expansion (OPE) element associated with the first face of the planar optical waveguide for splitting the in-coupled light beam into a first set of orthogonal light beamlets, a second orthogonal pupil expansion (OPE) element associated with the second face of the planar optical waveguide for splitting the in-coupled light beam into a second set of orthogonal light beamlets, and an exit pupil expansion (EPE) element associated with the planar optical waveguide for splitting the first and second sets of orthogonal light beamlets into an array of out-coupled light beamlets that exit the planar optical waveguide.

There is provided a diffractive display element comprising a waveguide body, an in-coupling region for diffractively coupling light into the waveguide body, and an out-coupling region for diffractively coupling light out of the waveguide body, said light being adapted to propagate from said in-coupling region to the out-coupling region along a primary route. According to the invention, the element further comprises at least one grating mirror outside said primary route for diffractively mirroring light strayed from said primary route back to said primary route. The invention allows for increasing the efficiency of waveguide-based personal displays.

A device for processing an input light beam comprising at least one optical pulse having an original duration, forms the input light beam into a predetermined shape. The device comprises an optical input; a stretching device, with a view to temporally elongating the duration of the optical pulse and thus transmitting a temporally stretched radiation; a compressing device, with a view to at least partially restoring the original duration of the optical pulse; and an optical output. The processing device also comprises a shaping device comprising at least one multi-plane converter placed upstream of the compressing device, which is configured to process the temporally stretched radiation with a view to forming the output beam into the predetermined shape.

A novel class of imaging systems that combines diffractive optics with 1D line sensing is disclosed. When light passes through a diffraction grating or prism, it disperses as a function of wavelength. This property is exploited to recover 2D and 3D positions from line images. A detailed image formation model and a learning-based algorithm for 2D position estimation are disclosed. The disclosure includes several extensions of the imaging system to improve the accuracy of the 2D position estimates and to expand the effective field-of-view. The invention is useful for fast passive imaging of sparse light sources, such as streetlamps, headlights at night and LED-based motion capture, and structured light 3D scanning with line illumination and line sensing.

Provided herein is a multifunctional aesthetic system including a housing, an electromagnetic array situated in the housing and having a plurality of electromagnetic radiation (EMR) sources, each EMR source configured to generate an EMR beam having a wavelength different than that of an EMR beam generated by another of the EMR sources, a controller in electronic communication with the array to operate two or more of the EMR sources to direct the EMR beam to a treatment area, and a sensor in electronic communication with the controller for providing feedback to the controller based on defined parameters to allow the controller to adjust at least one operating condition of the multifunctional system in response to the feedback.

A light irradiation device includes a Gaussian beam output unit for outputting light having a light intensity distribution that conforms to a Gaussian distribution, a spatial light modulator for receiving the light and modulating the light by presenting a CGH, an optical system for converging the modulated light, and an amplitude mask arranged on at least one of an optical axis between the Gaussian beam output unit and the spatial light modulator and an optical axis between the spatial light modulator and the optical system. The amplitude mask has a circular-shaped first region centered on the optical axis and an annular-shaped second region that surrounds the first region. Transmittance in the second region continuously decreases as a distance from the optical axis increases.

A method for providing spectral beam combining (SBC) including generating a plurality seed beams each having a central wavelength and a low fill factor profile, where the wavelength of all of the seed beams is different; amplifying the seed beams; causing the amplified beams to expand as they propagate so as to be converted from the low fill factor profile to a high fill factor profile where the high fill factor profile tapers to a lower value at a perimeter of each beam; causing a wavefront of the converted beams to flatten to provide a plurality of adjacent SBC beams having different wavelengths with minimal overlap and a minimal gap between the beams; collimating the SBC beams; and directing the collimated SBC beams onto an SBC element that spatially diffracts the individual beam wavelengths and directing the beams in the same direction as a combined output beam.