An optical member includes a light source, a first substrate to be a light guide that guides emitted light from the light source, a variable layer in contact with a predetermined surface of the first substrate, and a second substrate facing the first substrate via the variable layer. When a refractive index of the first substrate is n1, a refractive index of the variable layer can be changed to n2 or n3 (where n2>n3), and n1, n2, and n3 satisfy a relationship of |n1−n2|<|n1−n3|.

An optical component has: a planar liquid layer; and one or more light sources arranged such that light is guided to the planar liquid layer; wherein the liquid layer is configured to guide light.

One example system comprises a substrate and a waveguide disposed on the substrate to define an optical path on the substrate. The waveguide is configured to guide, inside the waveguide and along the optical path, a light signal toward an edge of the waveguide. The edge defines an optical interface between the waveguide and a fluidic optical medium adjacent to the edge of the waveguide. The system also includes an optical fluid and a fluid actuator configured to adjust a physical state of the optical fluid based on a control signal. The adjustment of the physical state of the optical fluid causes an adjustment of the fluidic optical medium adjacent to the edge.

An adjustable attenuation optical unit that may include a lightguide that includes a core, wherein the core comprises an output, an input and an exterior surface; and an adjustable attenuator that is configured to define an interfacing parameter related to an area of the exterior surface thereby receiving at least some of the light that impinges on the area.

Embodiments described herein relate to waveguide combiners having arrangements for image uniformity. The waveguide combiners includes an input coupling grating (ICG) defined by a plurality of input structures, a pupil expansion grating (PEG) defined by a plurality of expansion structures, an output coupling grating (OCG) defined by a plurality of output structures The waveguide combiners includes at least one of a pixelated phase modulator is aligned with the PEG of the first side of the waveguide combiners, at least one of a Y expander and an X expander disposed on a second side of the waveguide combiners opposing the first side, or a pupil shifting mechanism operable to shift incident beams of light between a first position and a second position of the ICG.

An optical element includes a porous layer with a network of a plurality of interconnected voids. The porous layer is optically diffusive to at least one wavelength of light when the network of interconnected voids is substantially free of fluid. The porous layer of the optical element undergoes a detectable optical change upon fluid ingress into the network or egress from the network of interconnected voids.

A light source module includes a light adjusting element including a first substrate, a second substrate and a fluid layer, the fluid layer includes polar fluid, the first substrate includes a light guide layer, a first electrode layer and a dielectric layer, the dielectric layer is in contact with the fluid layer, a refractivity of the dielectric layer is equal to that of the light guide layer, a refractivity of the polar fluid is greater than or equal to that of the dielectric layer, the light adjusting element incudes control regions corresponding to first electrodes included in the first electrode layer one by one, a second electrode layer is provided in the first or second substrate, a control electric field is formed between the first electrode and the second electrode layer to control hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity of the polar fluid on a surface of the dielectric layer.

An optical switch includes a substrate with a waveguide-coupling area and a fluid channel with an anti-wetting layer on a first surface. First and second fluids are on the anti-wetting layer in the fluid channel and at least one fluid is selectively movable relative to the waveguide-fluid coupling area. A fluidic driving mechanism has at least one electrode positioned to apply an electric field to at least one of the fluids in the fluid channel and is capable of moving at least one of the fluids in the fluid channel. The anti-wetting layer has an alkyl silane coating, which includes alkyl silane molecules covalently bonded to the first surface of the fluid channel.

The invention relates to the fabrication of optical switches in transparent substrates. The method includes exposing part of the substrate to a stream of femtosecond laser pulses to form an exposed volume which can later be etched to form a channel used for microfluidic control of the switch. This process is referred to as femtosecond laser induced chemical etching (FLICE). The waveguides of the optical switch are also written in the substrate by using femtosecond laser inscription (FLI), which can be performed in the same operation as the exposure step in the FLICE formation of the channel, thus ensuring alignment between the waveguides and the channel.

An optical element includes a porous layer with a network of a plurality of interconnected voids. The porous layer is optically diffusive to at least one wavelength of light when the network of interconnected voids is substantially free of fluid. The porous layer of the optical element undergoes a detectable optical change upon fluid ingress into the network or egress from the network of interconnected voids.