A holographic display system includes a holographic optical element (HOE), which includes a first volume hologram configured to outcouple light to form a first exit pupil upon satisfaction of a first angular condition, and a second volume hologram configured to outcouple light to form a second exit pupil upon satisfaction of a second angular condition. A light source is configured to introduce light into the HOE at any of a range of angles. A light source controller sets a current angle of the light to a first angle that meets the first angular condition, forming the first exit pupil. The light source controller moves the first exit pupil by changing the current angle to a second angle that meets the first angular condition. The light source controller redirects light to form the second exit pupil by setting the current angle to a third angle that meets the second angular condition.

A rotational geometric phase hologram has geometric phase optical elements (GPOEs) serially cascaded along a common optical axis to form a GPOE cascade used for receiving a linearly-polarized light beam and generating output light beams at an exit surface of the last GPOE. Interference occurred in the output light beams creates a polarization interference pattern on the exit surface. A photoalignment substrate, when positioned in close proximity to the exit surface, records the pattern. Advantageously, each GPOE is rotatable about the common optical axis. Respective rotation angles of the GPOEs are determined according to a spatially-varying linear polarization orientation distribution selected to be generated for the polarization interference pattern. Particularly, the respective rotation angles are reconfigurable to provide the periodicity required for the spatially-varying linear polarization orientation distribution over a range of allowed periodicities while keeping the periodicity of spatially-varying optic axis orientation distribution of each GPOE to be fixed.

A holographic printing system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is disclosed. The system may include: a light source; a geometrical phase holographic element having a phase retardation of /4; and an optical member for copying and printing a wavefront through self-interference of light transmitted through the geometrical phase holographic element. According to an embodiment, the light source, the geometrical phase holographic element, and the optical member may be disposed in a line. According to an embodiment, the geometrical phase holographic element and the optical member may be disposed with a predetermined distance therebetween, and the predetermined distance may be a distance that enables self-interference of light transmitted through the geometrical phase holographic element.

Provided is an image display device including a first light source configured to emit a first beam of light, a second light source configured to emit a second beam of light, a spatial light modulator configured to modulate the first beam of light and the second beam of light, a holographic optical element configured to focus, on a first focal point, the first beam of light emitted from the first light source and modulated by the spatial light modulator, and to focus, on a second focal point, the second beam of light emitted from the second light source and modulated by the spatial light modulator and a processor configured to control the first and the second light sources and the spatial light modulator.

An apparatus for manufacturing a hologram includes a holographic optical element on which a first interference pattern of a first signal beam and a first reference beam is recorded and a second interference pattern of a second signal beam modulated by a Fourier lens and a second reference beam is recorded. Also, an apparatus for reconstructing a hologram by using the holographic optical element is provided.

A method is provided. The method comprises: receiving incident light, from an object surface, on a top surface of a holographic optical field flattener (HOFF); transforming direction of light, with a hologram, if the light is incident on a portion of the HOFF at an angle equal to a non-zero field angle of the portion; and emitting transformed light from a bottom surface of the HOFF.

Systems and methods for fabricating optical elements in accordance with various embodiments of the invention are illustrated. One embodiment includes a method for fabricating an optical element, the method including providing a first optical substrate, depositing a first layer of a first optical recording material onto the first optical substrate, applying an optical exposure process to the first layer to form a first optical structure, temporarily erasing the first optical structure, depositing a second layer of a second optical recording material, and applying an optical exposure process to the second layer to form a second optical structure, wherein the optical exposure process includes using at least one light beam traversing the first layer.

Various embodiments are generally directed to techniques for processing holographic recording media. Some embodiments are particularly directed to processing a raw holographic recording medium into an apodized holographic recording medium. For example, a raw holographic recording medium may include a plurality of photosensitive molecules uniformly distributed throughout that are able to record an interference pattern to create a hologram. However, when a photosensitive molecule is desensitized, such as by exposure to incoherent light, its photosensitivity is lost and the molecule may no longer be able to record an interference pattern of coherent light. Various embodiments described herein may include an apodized holographic recording medium that has been exposed to incoherent light in a manner to desensitize some photosensitive molecules therein such that the remaining photosensitive molecules have a non-uniform distribution.

A method for design and fabrication of holographic optical elements for a compact holographic sight is proposed. The method includes use of ray-trace software to design holographic elements having optical power using an intermediate hologram with parameters obtained through minimization of the merit function defining image quality.

A purpose of the present invention is to provide an image display apparatus and an image display element that are capable of achieving excellent visual effects. The image display apparatus of the present invention includes a first transparent member (30), a second transparent member (40), and an emission section (10). The first transparent member (30) includes a diffusion surface (31) for diffusing light incident on respective points. The second transparent (40) includes a control surface (41) and is integrated with the first transparent member (30), the control surface being disposed in a manner that the control surface faces the diffusion surface, controlling propagation directions of light diffused at the respective points on the diffusion surface, and forming a virtual image of the diffusion surface. The emission section (10) emits image light to the diffusion surface (31).