A light guide element includes: a light guide plate; and a diffraction element that is disposed on a main surface of the light guide plate, in which the diffraction element includes a liquid crystal layer that is formed of a liquid crystal 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 refractive index of the light guide plate is 1.70 or higher, and in a case where the refractive index of the light guide plate is represented by n.sub.d and a refractive index of the liquid crystal layer is represented by n.sub.k, n.sub.k−n.sub.d≥0 is satisfied.

A near-eye display system that employs a volume holographic element containing distinct but overlapped planar volume gratings, each corresponding to a subset of pixels in the display. The volume gratings are illuminated using light incident from angles, and at wavelengths, that match the conical diffraction conditions for each grating, thereby achieving both high diffraction efficiency and a wide field of view. A single volume grating can thus be used to display thousands of pixels independently with high efficiency.

The present invention provides a reflective polarized-light separating diffraction-element usable in a wide wavelength region including an ultraviolet region, and an optical measurement device comprising the same. The reflective polarized-light separating diffraction-element comprises: a substrate (1); a reflection surface (2) formed on a surface of the substrate (1); and a lattice structured body assembly (3) that is provided on the reflection surface (2) and shows a form birefringence (Δn*). The lattice structured body assembly (3) consists of lattice structured bodies (3A, 3B, 3C and 3D) of four patterns having lattice structures of different azimuths. The lattice structured bodies (3A, 3B, 3C and 3D) of a plurality of patterns are aligned on the reflection surface 2 in a predetermined direction such that the azimuths of the lattice structures change in a structurally periodic manner.

A metallic grating includes a substrate; a plurality of high aspect ratio trenches disposed in the substrate such that the high aspect ratio trenches are spaced apart from one another by a field surface of the substrate; a metallic superconformal filling formed and disposed in the high aspect ratio trenches; and a grating including a spatial arrangement of the high aspect ratio trenches that are filled with the metallic superconformal filling such that the metallic superconformal filling is void-free, and the high aspect ratio trenches are bottom-up filled with the metallic superconformal filling, wherein a height of the metallic superconformal filling is less than or equal to the height of the high aspect ratio trenches.

A near eye optical display includes a waveguide comprising a first surface and a second surface, an input coupler, a fold grating, and an output grating. The input coupler is configured to receive collimated light from a display source and to cause the light to travel within the waveguide via total internal reflection between the first surface and the second surface to the fold grating; the fold grating is configured to provide pupil expansion in a first direction and to direct the light to the output grating via total internal reflection between the first surface and the second surface; and the output grating is configured to provide pupil expansion in a second direction different than the first direction and to cause the light to exit the waveguide from the first surface or the second surface.

A system and method are provided for spectral shaping of light from a broadband source using a linear spatial light modulator (SLM). The system includes an illumination source generating light including a plurality of wavelengths, a lens to collimate the light and an aperture to define its angular spread, a diffraction grating to disperse the beam by wavelength, and a focusing element to focus the dispersed beams from the diffraction grating onto a plurality of pixels of the SLM. The SLM is configured to individually modulate the dispersed beams by diffracting light output therefrom into higher orders, where a diffraction angle of output light is greater than an input cone angle of incoming light from the illumination source.

A manufacturing system performs a deposition of an etch-compatible film over a substrate. The etch-compatible film includes a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface. The manufacturing system performs a partial removal of the etch-compatible film to create a surface profile on the first surface with a plurality of depths relative to the substrate. The manufacturing system performs a deposition of a second material over the profile created in the etch-compatible film. The manufacturing system performs a planarization of the second material to obtain a plurality of etch heights of the second material in accordance with the plurality of depths in the profile created in the etch-compatible film. The manufacturing system performs a lithographic patterning of a photoresist deposited over the planarized second material to obtain the plurality of etch heights and one or more duty cycles in the second material.

An image display apparatus according to an embodiment of the present technology includes a plurality of display units. Each of the display units includes a screen on which an object image is formed; and a diffractive optical element that includes a first surface and a second surface that is situated opposite to the first surface, the diffractive optical element diffracting image light of the object image that enters the first surface, and causing the image light to exit the first surface, the diffractive optical element displaying a virtual image of the object image on a side of the second surface such that the virtual image is superimposed on a background. The diffractive optical elements of a plurality of the diffractive optical elements included in the display units are each arranged to at least partially surround a specified axis in a state in which the second surface faces the specified axis.

An optical element includes a light guide plate, an incidence portion, and an emission portion, in which each of the incidence portion and the emission portion includes diffraction portions, the diffraction portion includes diffraction elements, the diffraction element includes a liquid crystal diffraction layer in which a direction of an optical axis of a liquid crystal compound changes while continuously rotating in one in-plane direction, and in a case where the direction in which the direction of the optical axis changes is set as an in-plane rotation direction and a length over which the optical axis rotates by 180° is set as an in-plane period, in-plane rotation directions of liquid crystal diffraction layers of incidence diffraction elements in at least two of a plurality of the incidence diffraction portions are different from each other.

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to methods for controlling etch depth by providing localized heating across a substrate. The method for controlling temperatures across the substrate can include individually controlling a plurality of heating pixels disposed in a dielectric body of a substrate support assembly. The plurality of heating pixels provide temperature distributions on a first surface of the substrate disposed on a support surface of the dielectric body. The temperature distributions correspond to a plurality of portions of at least one grating on a second surface of the substrate to be exposed to an ion beam. Additionally, the temperatures can be controlled by individually controlling light emitting diodes (LEDs) of LED arrays. The substrate is exposed to the ion beam to form a plurality of fins on the at least one grating. The at least one grating has a distribution of depths corresponding to the temperature distributions.