A method for adjusting an intensity of a light beam in an optical arrangement includes passing the light beam through an acousto-optical tunable filter (AOTF). The intensity of the light beam is adjusted as a function of frequency and/or amplitude of a sound wave with which the AOTF is operated. The amplitude of the sound wave at a specified sound wave frequency is selected such that the amplitude is larger than would be required to achieve a first maximum diffraction efficiency for a specified wavelength or for a specified wavelength spectrum of the light beam. The amplitude of the sound wave is also selected such that a value of an integral of a product of the transmission function of the AOTF and the wavelength spectrum of the light beam is larger than at a value of the amplitude to be selected to achieve the first maximum.

The invention relates to a device for multispot scanning microscopy, having a multicolour light source for providing at least one illumination light beam, having a splitting device for splitting the illumination light beam into a plurality of illumination sub-beams, having first optical means for providing an illumination optical path for guiding and focussing the individual illumination sub-beams respectively into a light spot on or in a specimen to be examined, having a scan unit for guiding the light spots over the probe, having a detection unit for detecting detection light emitted by the specimen in detection sub-beams after irradiation with the individual illumination sub-beams, having second optical means for providing a detection optical path for guiding the detection sub-beams to the detector unit, having a control and evaluation unit for controlling the scan unit and for evaluating the detection light detected by the detection unit. The device is characterised in that in the illumination optical path for at least two of the illumination sub-beams a controllable beam manipulation means is present for independent setting of a spectral composition of the respective illumination sub-beam, and the control and evaluation unit is designed to control the beam manipulation means. The invention further relates to a method for multispot scanning microscopy.

An acousto-optic structure according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is a stacked structure for inducing an interaction between incident acoustic wave and incident optical wave, and it includes: a pair of multi-layered structures including a structure in which two layers with different acoustic impedance and optical impedance are alternately arranged in a direction in which the acoustic wave and the optical wave propagate; and a cavity layer disposed between the pair of multi-layered structures in the direction in which the acoustic wave and the optical wave propagate, and made of a medium having acoustic impedance and optical impedance that are different from those of interfacing layers at both sides, wherein the two layers are symmetrically arranged with respect to the cavity layer so that the acoustic wave and the optical wave may be confined in the cavity layer.

An object is to provide an optical element in which a wavelength dependence of refraction of transmitted light is small, and a light guide element including the optical element. The optical element includes: plurality of optically-anisotropic layers that are formed using a composition including a liquid crystal compound and have a liquid crystal alignment pattern in which a direction of an optical axis derived from the liquid crystal compound continuously rotates in one in-plane direction; and a wavelength selective phase difference layer that is disposed between two optically-anisotropic layers and converts circularly polarized light in a specific wavelength range into circularly polarized light having an opposite turning direction, in which, in a case where, in the liquid crystal alignment pattern, a length over which the direction of the optical axis rotates by 180° in the in-plane direction in which the direction of the optical axis changes is set as a single period, a length of the single period in at least one optically-anisotropic layer is different from that of another optically-anisotropic layer.

According to the present invention, an optical testing apparatus is used in testing an optical measuring instrument. The optical measuring instrument provides an incident light pulse from a light source to an incident object and receives a reflected light pulse as a result of reflection of the incident light pulse at the incident object. The optical testing apparatus includes a testing light source and a rise time control section. The testing light source is arranged to generate a testing light pulse to be provided to the optical measuring instrument. The rise time control section is arranged to control the rise time of the testing light pulse.

A method for fabricating a tunable optical phased array, and a tunable optical phased array are disclosed by the present application. The tunable optical phased array includes: a substrate layer (10), a distributed Bragg reflector (20), a support layer (30), a piezoelectric layer (40), an antenna array (60), and a transducer module (50) configured to make interconversion between a phase control signal and a surface wave; the antenna array (60) and the distributed Bragg reflector (20) are used to form a Fabry Perot resonant cavity, and the phase control signal output by a signal source is concerted into the surface wave by the transducer module (50), and the surface wave is conducted to the antenna array (60) through the piezoelectric layer (40).

Provided are an optical laminate in which a large diffraction angle can be obtained, a light guide element, and an AR display device. The optical laminate includes, in the following order: a first optically-anisotropic layer that is formed of a composition including a liquid crystal compound and has a liquid crystal alignment pattern in which a direction of an optical axis derived from the liquid crystal compound continuously rotates in at least one in-plane direction; a phase difference layer; and a patterned cholesteric liquid crystal layer that is formed of a composition including a liquid crystal compound and has a liquid crystal alignment pattern in which a direction of an optical axis derived from the liquid crystal compound continuously rotates in at least one in-plane direction, the liquid crystal compound being cholesterically aligned, in which in the first optically-anisotropic layer and the patterned cholesteric liquid crystal layer, the one in-plane directions in which the direction of the optical axis derived from the liquid crystal compound continuously rotates are the same, and rotation directions of the direction of the optical axis derived from the liquid crystal compound in the one in-plane direction are the same.

Provided are an optical laminate in which a large diffraction angle can be obtained, a light guide element, and an AR display device. The optical laminate includes, in the following order: a first optically-anisotropic layer that is formed of a composition including a liquid crystal compound and has a liquid crystal alignment pattern in which a direction of an optical axis derived from the liquid crystal compound changes while continuously rotating in at least one in-plane direction; a cholesteric liquid crystal layer that is obtained by immobilizing a cholesteric liquid crystalline phase; and a second optically-anisotropic layer that is formed of a composition including a liquid crystal compound and has a liquid crystal alignment pattern in which a direction of an optical axis derived from the liquid crystal compound continuously rotates in at least one in-plane direction, in which in the first optically-anisotropic layer and the second optically-anisotropic layer, the one in-plane directions in which the direction of the optical axis derived from the liquid crystal compound continuously rotates are the same, and rotation directions of the direction of the optical axis derived from the liquid crystal compound in the one in-plane direction are the same.

Images of samples that are illuminated with polarized light are captured. Azimuth and inclination data are extracted from the captured images. The azimuth and inclination data are used to quantify MTRs.

The present invention discloses a photo-alignment apparatus that realizes a desirable distribution through a single exposure and a method of manufacturing an optical element. The photo-alignment apparatus comprises a light source, a linear polarization film, a pixelated electronic-control phase retarder, and a phase retardation plate; the light source is used to provide light for a exposure; the linear polarization film is configured to convert the light emitted by the light source into a linearly-polarized light having a polarization direction parallel to the direction of the transmission axis of the linear polarization film; the pixelated electronic-control phase retarder is configured to generate phase retardations distributed in a desirable pattern; and the phase retardation plate is used to generate a non-pixelated phase retardation. With this photo-alignment apparatus, a polarization distribution of a desirable pattern can be generated, and a corresponding alignment profile can be formed on a polarization sensitive medium.