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.

An optical pickup device includes a semiconductor laser that emits a laser beam, and an object lens that concentrates the laser beam emitted from the semiconductor laser on an optical disc. In this optical pickup device, an optical axis of the object lens is inclined with respect to an optical axis of the laser beam that is incident on the object lens so as to generate flares caused by coma aberration on an entrance side in a forward direction of pits of the optical disc.

A sensor line, a measuring arrangement and a method detect a change in an ambient variable. The sensor line serves for detecting a change in an ambient variable, in particular the temperature. The sensor line has a first optical waveguide, a second optical waveguide and also a material that changes its transparency depending on the value of the ambient variable. The material is positioned between the first optical waveguide and the second optical waveguide in such a way that light from the first optical waveguide is able to be coupled into the second optical waveguide in an event of a change in the transparency.

An optical signal transmission apparatus includes: a first fiber collimator, configured to input a first combined optical signal; a first beam splitter, configured to split the first combined optical signal to obtain an optical signal of a first wavelength and an optical signal of a second wavelength, transmit the optical signal of the first wavelength to a first filter unit, and transmit the optical signal of the second wavelength to a third fiber collimator; the first filter unit, configured to transmit the optical signal of the first wavelength to the third fiber collimator; a second fiber collimator, configured to input an optical signal of a third wavelength; a second filter unit, configured to transmit the optical signal of the third wavelength to the third fiber collimator; and the third fiber collimator, configured to output a second combined optical signal.

A laser beam steering device for two-dimensionally steering a laser beam may include a refractive index converting layer whose charge concentration is configured to change based on an electric signal applied thereto; an antenna disposed above the refractive converting layer; a laser beam reflecting layer disposed below the refractive index converting layer and including a plurality of cells arranged in a two-dimensional matrix; and a driver disposed below the laser beam reflecting layer and including a plurality of driving circuits respectively connected to the plurality of cells, the plurality of driving circuits being configured to respectively apply electric signals to the plurality of cells.

A laser beam phase-modulation device, a laser beam steering device, and a laser beam steering system including the same are provided. The laser beam phase-modulation device includes a refractive index conversion layer having a refractive index that is changed according to an electrical signal applied thereto, the refractive index conversion layer including an upper surface on which the laser beam is incident and a lower surface opposite the upper surface, at least one antenna pattern embedded in the upper surface of the refractive index conversion layer, and a metal mirror layer provided under the lower surface of the refractive index conversion layer and configured to reflect the laser beam.

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 display device configured to show an image inside an instrument panel for a vehicle includes: a light source configured to emit light; and a light guide element configured to guide incident light from the light source. The light guide element includes: an emission surface configured to output incident light; and a plurality of light focusing portions configured to change the path of the incident light toward the emission surface, causing the light output to converge toward a convergence point or convergence line outside the light guide element or to radiate from a convergence point or convergence line outside the light guide element and thereby form an image outside the light guide element. The light guide element is configured to form light to thereby present an image.

In some implementations, a fiber processing machine may receive an optical assembly comprising an input fiber, an output fiber, and a graded index fiber spliced between the input fiber and the output fiber, wherein the graded index fiber has a pitch length and a processed length. A light source may deliver input light into an input end of the input fiber while one or more components monitor output light at an output end of the output fiber. The fiber processing machine may alter a core diameter and the processed length of the graded index fiber until one or more measurements of the output light at the output end of the output fiber indicate that the output light is a perfect image of the input light.

An optical image capturing system includes, along the optical axis in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens, a second lens, a third lens, a fourth lens, a fifth lens, a sixth lens, and a seventh lens. At least one lens among the first to the sixth lenses has positive refractive force. The seventh lens can have negative refractive force, and both surfaces thereof are aspheric. At least a surface of the seventh lens has an inflection point. The lenses in the optical image capturing system which have refractive power include the first to the seventh lenses. The optical image capturing system can increase aperture value and improve the imaging quality for use in compact cameras.