An illuminator usable for illuminating a display panel is disclosed. The illuminator uses a pupil-replicating waveguide to expand a pair of light beams propagating in the waveguide. The light beams may be coupled at a same edge and/or at opposite edges of the waveguide, and are configured to fill each other's dark spots between out-coupled beam portions of the light beams. To improve the illumination uniformity, the two light beams may be orthogonally polarized, and the out-coupling grating strength may be spatially varied along the waveguide.

A reflective display includes a display, a thin-diaphragm transistor backplate, a front-light guiding module, and a front-light unit. The thin-diaphragm transistor backplate is arranged to reflect light, the front-light guiding module is located between the display and the thin-diaphragm transistor backplate, and the front-light unit is provided on the side of the front-light guiding module to irradiate the front-light guiding module. The front-light guiding module includes reflective diaphragms arranged in order along the irradiation direction of the front-light unit. The angle between a reflective diaphragm and the display is between 0 and 90 degrees. By using an array of reflective coating structures for the front-light guiding module, the present invention can better reflect the light from the front-light source to the thin-diaphragm transistor backplate, thereby increasing self-illumination of the reflective display. Therefore, the present application can significantly improve existing reflective displays without significantly increasing costs.

A waveguide display having an input image generator providing image light projected over a field of view; a waveguide having first and second external surfaces; and at least one grating optically coupled to the waveguide for extracting light towards a viewer. The waveguide has a lateral refractive index variation between said external surfaces that prevents any ray propagated within the waveguide from optically interacting with at least one of the external surfaces.

Three-dimensional (3D) electronic displays provide different 3D views and employ one or both of an array of multibeam diffraction gratings arranged in offset rows and light valves having color filters. The displays include a plate light guide configured to guide light beams at a non-zero propagation angle, a multibeam diffraction grating configured to couple out a portion of the guided light beams as a plurality of light beams having different principal angular directions representing the different 3D views, and light valves configured to modulate the differently directed, coupled-out light beams. The multibeam diffraction grating may be a member of the array arranged in offset rows and the display may further include light valves having color filters. Alternately, the light valves include color filters and the display may further include the array of multibeam diffraction gratings arranged in offset rows.

There is provided an illumination device comprising: a laser; a waveguide comprising at least first and second transparent lamina; a first grating device for coupling light from the laser into a TIR path in the waveguide; a second grating device for coupling light from the TIR path out of the waveguide; and a third grating device for applying a variation of at least one of beam deflection, phase retardation or polarization rotation across the wavefronts of the TIR light. The first second and third grating devices are each sandwiched by transparent lamina.

A backlight unit includes a light source generating light, a light guide plate guiding the light in an upper direction, and an optical member disposed on the light guide plate to condense the light provided from the light guide plate in the upper direction. A top surface of the light guide plate includes a plurality of circular areas and a peripheral area around the circular areas. Each of the circular areas includes a central circular area and a ring area surrounding the central circular area. The optical member includes a first insulating layer disposed on the light guide plate and spaced apart from the light guide plate by predetermined distances in the ring areas and the peripheral area to define a plurality of cavities, and a second insulating layer disposed on the first insulating layer.

Images perceived to be substantially full color or multi-colored may be formed using component color images that are distributed in unequal numbers across a plurality of depth planes. The distribution of component color images across the depth planes may vary based on color. In some embodiments, a display system includes a stack of waveguides that each output light of a particular color, with some colors having fewer numbers of associated waveguides than other colors. The stack of waveguides may include by multiple pluralities (e.g., first and second pluralities) of waveguides, each configured to produce an image by outputting light corresponding to a particular color. The total number of waveguides in the second plurality of waveguides is less than the total number of waveguides in the first plurality of waveguides, and may be more than the total number of waveguides in a third plurality of waveguides, in embodiments where three component colors are utilized.

A self-lit display panel includes a photonic integrated circuit payer including an array of waveguides and an array of out-couplers for out-coupling portions of the illuminating light through pixels of the panel. The self-lit display panel may include a transparent electronic circuitry layer backlit by the photonic integrated circuit layer; the two layers may be on a same substrate or on opposed substrates defining a cell filled with an electro-active material. The configuration allows for chief ray engineering, zonal illuminating, and separate illumination with red, green, and blue illuminating light.

A device (100) includes a light source (130) and a light guide (110). The light source (130) is configured to emit photoresist-curative electromagnetic radiation. The light guide (110) is arranged to receive the photoresist-curative electromagnetic radiation from the light source (130) and to guide the received radiation by total internal reflection, the light guide (110) including a pattern of emission points (210) on at least one surface of the light guide (110), the emission points (210) emitting the photoresist-curative electromagnetic radiation out of the light guide (110) by frustration of total internal reflection caused by the emission points (210).

An illuminator for a display panel includes a light source for providing a light beam and a lightguide coupled to the light source for receiving and propagating the light beam along the substrate. The lightguide includes an array of out-coupling gratings that runs parallel to the array of pixels for out-coupling portions of the light beam from the lightguide such that the out-coupled light beam portions propagate through the substrate and produce an array of optical power density peaks at the array of pixels due to Talbot effect. A period of the array of peaks is an integer multiple of a pitch of the array of pixels.