An optically anisotropic film 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 of the optically anisotropic film, and the optically anisotropic film satisfies predetermined requirements.

Provided is an optical element with which a high diffraction efficiency can be obtained with a simple configuration. The optical element includes: an optically-anisotropic layer that is formed using a composition including a liquid crystal compound, in which the optically-anisotropic layer 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, and the optically-anisotropic layer has a region in which an alignment direction of a liquid crystal compound in at least one of upper and lower interfaces has a pre-tilt angle with respect to the interface.

A waveguide display includes a substrate transparent to at least one of visible or near infrared light, and a grating on the substrate. The grating includes ridges formed using a birefringent material and is configured to selectively couple incident light in a first polarization state into or out of the substrate. The birefringent material in the ridges is characterized by an optic axis parallel to a plane that includes a grating vector of the grating.

Provided are a hyperspectral sensor and a hyperspectral camera in which influence of external information such as a reflecting material is reduced such that the spectral data accuracy of a subject to be acquired can be improved. In the hyperspectral sensor in which light from a subject is split into light components in a plurality of wavelength ranges by a spectral optical element and each of the light components in the wavelength ranges is received by a sensor array consisting of a plurality of photodetection elements to acquire spectral data in which spectral information of the subject is associated with each of the photodetection elements, a polarization diffraction element that emits polarized light is used as the spectral optical element.

An optical device includes a display configured to generate an image light; and a waveguide optically coupled with the display and configured to guide the image light to an exit pupil of the optical device. The waveguide includes an in-coupling element configured to couple the image light into the waveguide, and an out-coupling element configured to decouple the image light out of the waveguide. The out-coupling element includes a grating having a diffraction efficiency gradient along a predetermined direction at a plane of the grating.

A zoned waveplate has a series of transversely stacked birefringent zones alternating with non-birefringent zones. The birefringent and non-birefringent zones are integrally formed upon an AR-coated face of a single substrate by patterning the AR coated face of the substrate with zero-order sub-wavelength form-birefringent gratings configured to have a target retardance. The layer structure of the AR coating is designed to provide the target birefringence in the patterned zones and the reflection suppression.

An optical assembly includes a beam steering device and a holographic optical element. The beam steering device is switchable between different states including a first state and a second state. The beam steering device includes a first polarization-selective optical element and a first tunable optical retarder optically coupled with the first polarization-selective optical element. The holographic optical element is positioned relative to the beam steering device for receiving light from the beam steering device and projecting a first light pattern while the beam steering device is in the first state and a second light pattern distinct from the first light pattern while the beam steering device is in the second state.

The invention relates to a waveguide and a polarisation splitter based on said waveguide, in which a rotation of an angle greater than zero is applied to a plurality of sections of a core material and a plurality of sections of a covering material, thereby achieving an independent control of the refractive indices of a zero-order transverse electric mode and a zero-order transverse magnetic mode. This document also describes a manufacturing method of said waveguide which allows the birefringence of the light that passes through the waveguide.

A polarization volume grating (PVG) includes a bulk, birefringent medium characterized by a plurality of helical structures with helix axes and a periodicity Λ.sub.y and an anisotropic alignment material having a rotatable optical axis, disposed on a top or bottom surface of the medium. The PVG is characterized in that the optical axis of the alignment material has a continuously rotated optical axis orientation in a plane of the material surface and a periodicity Λ.sub.x, wherein the helix axes are normal to the optical axes in the alignment material surface, further wherein the birefringent medium is characterized by a plurality of controllably slanted refractive index planes having a slant angle φ=±arctan (Λ.sub.y/Λ.sub.x) and a Bragg period Λ.sub.B. Fabrication methods are disclosed.

An optical inspection system includes one or more gratings to convert the polarization of light scattered from a target from an elliptical polarization that varies spatially across a collection pupil to a linear polarization that is uniformly oriented across the collection pupil. The one or more gratings have phase retardation that varies spatially across the collection pupil in accordance with the elliptical polarization. The one or more gratings include at least one grating on a reflective substrate. The optical inspection system also includes a linear polarizer to filter out the linearly polarized light.