Techniques to improve image quality in holography utilizing lenses made from materials with non-quantized anisotropic electromagnetic properties, such as birefringent materials, to advantageously split an incoming beam of light into two coincident beams with different focal lengths that interfere with one another and thus create holograms free of electro-optical or pixelated devices are disclosed for microscopy and other applications. The use of thin birefringent lenses and single crystal alpha-BBO lenses are introduced. Corresponding systems, methods and apparatuses are described.

The present invention relates to an arrangement for the generation of images of optical sections of a three-dimensional (3D) volume in space such as an object, scene, or target, comprising: an illumination unit, an optical arrangement for the imaging of the object onto at least one spatially resolving detector, a scanning mechanism for scanning the entire object and a signal processing unit for the implementation of a method for digital reconstruction of a three-dimensional representation of the object from images of said object as obtained by said detector (which may be in a form of a hologram), wherein the optical arrangement includes a diffractive optical element (herein a phase pinhole), realized using a Spatial Light Modulator (SLM) configured to mimic an actual physical pinhole, while allowing the formation of a three-dimensional representation for a specific point of interest in said object, such that for each scanning position a single hologram or an image is recorded.

An embodiment according to an aspect of the present disclosure provides a device for manufacturing a display lens, a method for manufacturing a display lens using the device, and a head-mounted display device including the display lens manufactured thereby. The device for manufacturing a display lens including a holographic optical element formed by recording a hologram on a photosensitive substrate, in which a substrate is coated with a photosensitive material, through irradiation of laser beams includes: a first laser light incidence unit configured to cause first laser light, converging along an irradiation direction, to be incident on one surface of the photosensitive substrate; and a second laser light incidence unit configured to cause second laser light, diverging at a plurality of points along an irradiation direction, to be incident on the other surface of the photosensitive substrate.

The inventors have discovered a method to improve image quality in holography and, for the first time, utilize lenses made from birefringent materials to advantageously split an incoming beam of either coherent or incoherent light into two coincident beams with different focal lengths that interfere with one another and thus create holograms free of electro-optical or pixelated devices. This discovery has many advantages over current methods to create holograms in which many components, including multiple lenses, other electro-optical devices, and/or beam paths are necessary to create holograms. The current invention provides a purely optical holographic process which has better performance and holographic simplicity, in addition to being able to miniaturize holographic processes more than is currently possible in state of the art holography systems.

A skew mirror is an optical reflective device, such as a volume holographic optical element, whose reflective axis forms an angle (the skew angle) with the surface normal. A skew illuminator is a skew mirror that expands a narrow beam into a wide beam without changing the angular bandwidth of the illumination. Because the skew angle can form a relatively large angle with the surface normal (e.g., about 45), a skew illuminator can be fairly compact, making it suitable for directing light onto a spatial light modulator (SLM) in a small package. In some cases, the skew illuminator is formed as a waveguide, with a holographic layer sandwiched between a pair of substrates. A grating structure in the holographic core diffracts light out of the waveguide and, e.g., onto the active area of an SLM, which modulates the incident light and either transmits it or reflects it back through the waveguided skew illuminator.

A position tracking system has a laser transmitter, a control tracker and a layout indicator. The laser transmitter has a laser for emitting a laser beam, a controller controlling the laser, and a motor for rotating the emitted laser beam. The control tracker has a housing, at least two photo diodes disposed on the housing, and a laser assembly for generating a beam to be projected unto a surface. The layout indicator has a housing, and at least two photo diodes disposed on the housing. A network server communicates with at least one of the laser transmitter, the control tracker and the layout indicator.

A digital holographic image-taking apparatus includes an illumination portion having a light emission surface for emitting illumination light toward an object, the illumination light having a specific wavelength in a coherent plane waveform; and an image sensor having an pixel array including two-dimensionally arranged pixels, the image sensor capturing an interference pattern generated based on the illumination light having acted on the object, in which the following conditional expression is satisfied: 0.0000001<Z.sup.2/S<16, where S represents the area of the light emission surface, and Z represents the distance from the light emission surface to the pixel array.

A self-interference digital holographic system obtains interference patterns of incident light using a simple geometric phase lens, and obtains a holographic image of a target object using the interference patterns. The self-interference digital holographic is fabricated simply in a low cost and in a miniaturized size, and the use thereof as actual products is extended to a wide range of applications. The phase of incident light is be changed by rotating a polarizer, independently of a change in the optical path. Phase-shifting effects are obtained with fewer errors in all wavelength ranges, and a more accurate holographic image is produced. A single birefringence hologram is obtained by a one-time image-capturing process by simultaneously forming interference patterns from phase-shifted linearly-polarized beams by space division, using a phase shifter on the basis of space division. Moving holographic images can be captured.

The present application provides a replicating method and a replicating device of a transmission type holographic optical element capable of mass-replicating the transmission type holographic optical element by a continuous and economical process.

A position tracking system has a laser transmitter, a control tracker and a layout indicator. The laser transmitter has a laser for emitting a laser beam, a controller controlling the laser, and a motor for rotating the emitted laser beam. The control tracker has a housing, at least two photo diodes disposed on the housing, and a laser assembly for generating a beam to be projected unto a surface. The layout indicator has a housing, and at least two photo diodes disposed on the housing. A network server communicates with at least one of the laser transmitter, the control tracker and the layout indicator.