Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 9
Claim 1
Independent Claim
71 words
A diffuser having an entrance surface and an exit surface for light passing therethrough comprising a purely phase volume holographic medium recorded with scattering boundaries defining smoothly varying changes in the refractive index of the medium and providing random and scattered optical path lengths for scattering light traveling through the diffuser which are at least several multiples greater than the point-to-point distance between the entrance and exit surfaces of the diffuser.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
15 words
The diffuser of claim 1 used to control the illumination pattern of a vehicle headlamp.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
15 words
The diffuser of claim 1 used to control the illumination pattern of a light source.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
89 words
A flat panel television display including a diffuser having an entrance surface and an exit surface for light passing therethrough which controls the viewing angle of the display comprising a volume of holographic material having recorded therein vertically oriented scattering boundaries defining smoothly varying changes in the refractive index of the material and providing random and scattered optical path lengths for scattering light traveling through the diffuser which are at least several multiples greater than the point to point distance between the entrance and exit surfaces of the diffuser.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
96 words
A communication device for modulating a signal-carrying laser beam including a rotating diffuser which modulates the spatial coherence of the beam comprising a volume holographic material having recorded therein speckle defining smoothly varying changes in the refractive index of the material, the diffuser rotating at a speed sufficient to satisfy the ergodic condition: N = t · r · 2 π f A rms >10 where t is the detector response time, r is the radius of rotation, f is the cycling frequency, N is the number of speckles, and A rms is average speckle size.
Claim 6
Independent Claim
86 words
A device for controlling the degree of spatial coherence of a light source comprising a volume holographic diffuser recorded with speckle defining smoothly varying changes in the refractive index of the diffuser and rotated at a speed sufficient to satisfy the ergodic condition: N = t · r · 2 π f A rms >10 where t is the detector response time, r is the radius of rotation, f is the cycling frequency, N is the number of speckles, and A rms is average speckle size.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
104 words
A reflection diffuser comprising a volume holographic medium having two opposing sides and recorded with scattering boundaries defining smoothly varying changes in the refractive index of the medium which cause light passing through the diffuser to scatter and follow random paths the length of each path being at least a few multiples greater than the distance between the two opposing sides, one side of the medium being inwardly reflective so that a light beam entering the other side of the medium is diffracted by the medium, is reflected from the inwardly reflective side, and is further diffracted by the medium before exiting other side.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
19 words
The diffuser as defined in any one of the preceding claims, recorded from a plurality of mask diffuser apertures.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
61 words
The diffuser as defined in any one of the preceding claims, recording with first scattering boundaries from a first mask diffuser aperture and first reference beam, and second scattering boundaries from a second mask diffuser aperture and second reference beam, where the first scattering boundaries reconstruct with the first reference beam and the second scattering boundaries with the second reference beam.