In illustrative implementations, an imaging system may comprise a lens, an optical cavity and a time-of-flight camera. The imaging system may capture an image of a scene. The image may be formed by light that is from the scene and that passes through the optical cavity and the lens. In some cases, the lens is in front of the optical cavity, enabling the Euclidean distance between the lens and the camera sensor to be less than the nominal focal length of the lens. In some cases, the lens is inside the optical cavity, enabling the camera to acquire ultrafast multi-zoom images without moving or changing the shape of any optical element. In some cases, the lens is behind the optical cavity, enabling the system to perform ultrafast multi-spectral imaging. In other cases, an optical cavity between the scene and time-of-camera enables ultrafast ellipsometry measurements or ultrafast spatial frequency filtering.

A color separation prism includes a filter, a first prism, a second prism, and a third prism. The first prism allows incidence of light transmitted through the filter, and the first reflective film reflects a first color component of the visible light and a part of the invisible light, among the light beams incident on the first prism. The second prism emits the light reflected by a second reflective film, and the second reflective film reflects the second color component of the visible light and a part of the invisible light, among the light beams incident on the second prism. The third prism emits the light transmitted through the second reflective film. The first reflective film and the second reflective film allocate the invisible light and the visible light emitted from each prism so as to obtain approximately uniform amount of the light.

An optical assembly includes a volume grating configured to influence a beam direction of at least one light beam, and a switching device arranged in a beam path upstream of the volume grating. The switching device is configured to switch the beam direction and/or beam position of the at least one light beam from a first beam direction and/or beam position, in which the at least one light beam does not impinge on the volume grating at an acceptance angle of the volume grating, to a second beam direction and/or beam position, in which the at least one light beam impinges on the volume grating at the acceptance angle, and/or vice versa.

An optical system employs a waveguide including a first set of partially-reflecting surfaces (“facets”) for progressively redirecting image illumination propagating from a coupling-in region towards a second region, and a second set of facets in the second region for progressively coupling-out the redirected image illumination towards the eye of a viewer. The first set of facets includes at least a first facet close to the coupling-in region, a third facet fare from the coupling-in region, and a second facet located on a medial plane between the first and the third facets. The second facet is located in a subregion of the medial plane such that image illumination propagating from the coupling-in region to the third facet passes through the medial plane without passing through the second facet.

A microscope system includes a laser light source, a plurality of laser microscopes, and an optical path switching unit that is provided between the laser light source and the laser microscopes and switches a supply destination of a laser beam among the plurality of laser microscopes by changing a beam splitter to be arranged on an incident optical axis. Each of the laser microscopes includes an optical axis adjustment unit that adjusts an optical axis of the laser beam, and a control unit that controls the optical axis adjustment unit based on identification information about the beam splitter arranged on the incident optical axis.

There is provided an optical device that provides a high quality image. The optical device includes a first light guiding member that has first through sixth surfaces and a first deflecting means. The first, second, and fifth surfaces are opposed to the third, fourth, and sixth surfaces, respectively. The optical device further includes a second light guiding member that has seventh through twelfth surfaces and a second deflecting means. The seventh, eighth, and eleventh surfaces are opposed to the ninth, tenth, and twelfth surfaces, respectively. Light that enters from the fifth surface is totally reflected within the first light guiding member, is deflected by the first deflecting means, is emitted from the third surface, enters the eighth surface, is totally reflected between the seventh surface and the ninth surface, is deflected by the second deflecting means, and is emitted from the seventh surface.

The cooling unit includes: an opening part through which the cooling media flow in; a first flow path; a second flow path; a first heat generation section; a second heat generation section; a first heat dissipation section that is thermally connected to the first heat generation section, and is disposed in the first flow path; and a second heat dissipation section that is thermally connected to the second heat generation section, and is disposed in the second flow path. The second flow path is disposed between the first and second heat generation sections and the first flow path, and the first heat dissipation section has a thermal resistance value smaller than a thermal resistance value of the second heat dissipation section.

A symmetric light guide optical element (“LOE”) and methods of fabrication thereof are disclosed. The method includes providing a plurality of transparent plates, each plate having two parallel surfaces, stacking a first subset of the plurality of plates on a transparent base block to form a first stack of plates, forming a sloped surface on one side of the first stack plates and the base block, stacking a second subset of the plurality of plates on the sloped surface to form a second stack of plates, and extracting a slice of the first stack, the base block, and the second stack, such that the slice includes at least a part of the base block interposed between plates of the first stack and plates of the second stack.

Systems and methods here may be used for a setup of image capturing of a gemstone, such as a diamond, exposed to different light sources. Some examples utilize a setup that both sends light and captures the image through multiple dichroic beam splitters at pre-selected timing. The multiple light source and multiple dichroic beam splitter arrangement allows for multiple gemstones to be analyzed using multiple methods with minimal moving, changing, or adjusting the equipment for different samples.

In various embodiments, optical networking devices and systems are provided. One such optical networking device includes a housing, a beam splitter assembly, and a polarizer assembly. The housing includes a first passage that extends between a first opening and a second opening which are aligned with one another along a first axis, and a second passage that extends between the first passage and a third opening. The third opening is aligned with and communicatively coupled to the first passage along a second axis that is transverse to the first axis. The beam splitter assembly is positioned in the first section of the housing, and includes a first shell, a beam splitter platform, and a beam splitter. The polarizer assembly is positioned in the second section of the housing, and includes a second shell, a polarizer platform, and a polarizer.