Systems, devices, and methods for optical waveguides that are well-suited for use in wearable heads-up displays (WHUDs) are described. An optical device comprises an optical waveguide including a volume of optically transparent material having a first longitudinal surface positioned opposite a second longitudinal surface across a width of the volume, an in-coupler, a liquid crystal out-coupler, and a controller to modulate a refractive index of the liquid crystal out-coupler. Light is in-coupled into the waveguide and is propagated along a length of the waveguide by total internal reflection between the longitudinal surfaces before being out-coupled by the liquid crystal out-coupler on a path that is dependent on the modulated refractive index of the liquid crystal out-coupler. In this way, light signals can be steered to create an image and/or to move an exit pupil of an image. WHUDs that employ such optical waveguides are also described.

The present disclosure provides systems and methods associated with mode conversion for electromagnetic field modification. A mode converting structure (holographic metamaterial) is formed with a distribution of dielectric constants chosen to convert an electromagnetic radiation pattern from a first mode to a second mode to attain a target electromagnetic radiation pattern that is different from the input electromagnetic radiation pattern. A solution to a holographic equation provides a sufficiently accurate approximation of a distribution of dielectric constants that can be used to form a mode converting device for use with one or more transmission lines, such as waveguides. One or more optimization algorithms can be used to improve the efficiency of the mode conversion.

A fiber coupling device includes a housing and a window provided in the housing. The fiber coupling device is configured to collectively guide plural laser beams to at least a first fiber, the plurality of laser beams each being emitted from a corresponding one of plural external laser light sources and entering through a laser beam inlet. The housing is configured such that the laser beams enter the housing from the laser beam inlet. The window is provided inside the housing and faces the laser beam inlet. The fiber coupling device is not required to detach when an optical axis is adjusted.

A multiple channel fiber pigtailed acousto-optic (AO) device comprises: a first multiple fiber collimator pigtail comprising a plurality of input fibers, a second multiple fiber collimator pigtail comprising a plurality of output fibers, wherein each of the plurality of output fibers is a conjugate of each of the plurality of input fibers, respectively, and an acousto-optic modulator (AOM) disposed between the first multiple fiber collimator pigtail and the second multiple fiber collimator pigtail, wherein the input fibers form input ports providing input beams to the AOM and the output fibers form output ports receiving output beams from the AOM, wherein at least one output fiber of the plurality of output fibers is coupled to an input fiber of the plurality of input fibers.

An illumination optical system includes: a beam splitter located near a conjugate position of a specimen and configured to split beams from a light source into a plurality of groups of beams having different splitting directions around an optical axis; a beam selector configured to select and transmit one group of beams from the plurality of groups of beams and that is rotatable with respect to the optical axis; and a wavelength plate located near the beam selector and rotatable about the optical axis. The rotation angles of the wavelength plate and of the beam selector about the optical axis are respectively set so that the polarization direction of the beam which has passed through the wavelength plate is perpendicular to the splitting direction of the one group of beams that has been selected by the beam selector and split by the beam splitter.

A light-emitting device suppresses chromatic aberration following reduction of the beam-interval relative to a plurality of beams to be combined. The device has a plurality of light sources 10 and a beam-interval reducing device 30, having a first optical element 31 to which a plurality of beams L is incident, a second optical element 32 to which a plurality of beams L emitted from the first optical element 31, specifies the beam-interval of the plurality of beams L emitted from the second optical element 32 to be narrower than the beam-interval of the plurality of beams L incident to the first optical element 31, emits a plurality of beams L and cancels respectively each the chromatic aberration that occurs when the first optical element 31 and the second optical element 32 pass through.

A screen includes a transparent base body with a front face and a rear face, and an image sensor. The base body includes a coupling-in region and a coupling-out region at a distance therefrom in a first direction. The coupling-in region includes a diffractive structure which deflects only part of the radiation incident on the front face and originating from an object to be detected, such that the deflected part is propagated as coupled-in radiation in the base body by reflection, until it reaches the coupling-out region and is incident on said coupling-out region, and the coupling-out region deflects at least part of said incident coupled-in radiation, such that the deflected part exits the base body via the front face or the rear face and is incident on the image sensor.

An illumination optical system includes: a beam splitter located near a conjugate position of a specimen and configured to split beams from a light source into a plurality of groups of beams having different splitting directions around an optical axis; a beam selector configured to select and transmit one group of beams from the plurality of groups of beams and that is rotatable with respect to the optical axis; and a wavelength plate located near the beam selector and rotatable about the optical axis. The rotation angles of the wavelength plate and of the beam selector about the optical axis are respectively set so that the polarization direction of the beam which has passed through the wavelength plate is perpendicular to the splitting direction of the one group of beams that has been selected by the beam selector and split by the beam splitter.

The three-dimensional space-division Y-splitter for multicore optical fibers (MCF) is a 3-D device that depends on space-division splitting (SDS) by double-hump graded-index (DHGI) in a rectangular waveguide. It includes multiple single Y-splitters, each one being dedicated to one MCF core. Each Y-splitter layer has three stages, including an expander; a DHGI-SDS; and a separator. The net result of the Y-splitter is that the signal in a single multi-core fiber input has its optical power split 50-50 between two multi-core fiber outputs without an intermediate single-core single-mode fiber (SMF) conversion stage.

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide for a light field imaging apparatus and method. In one embodiment, an apparatus may comprise one or more imaging modules that may include a lens array, to receive a light field of a surface of an object or scene, and a fiber optic image transferring device having a first end and a second end. The fiber optic image transferring device may be coupled with the lens array at the first end, to transfer the light field to the second end. The apparatus may further include an image sensor coupled with the second end of the fiber optic image transferring device, to register the transferred light field and provide the registered light field for processing. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.