Search

Subwavelength metallic and dielectric diffraction gratings which rotate the linear polarization of incident light by 90° are examined. Using rigorous diffraction theory in total-internal-reflection configuration, it is shown that full conversion from incident transverse electric field to transverse magnetic zero-order field can be achieved with both dielectric and metallic elements, but dielectric gratings provide higher efficiency and are thus preferable. The fabrication aspects and constraints are discussed in detail and the behavior of the gratings over broad wavelength bands is presented.

A double-groove, two-depth dielectric grating structure for high-efficiency light coupling into a light guide is introduced. We show computationally that the optimized gratings can couple a monochromatic TE- or TM-polarized light beam with nearly 100% efficiency. For an unpolarized light beam 90% efficiency can be reached. In all cases the highest achieved coupling efficiencies require that the refractive index of the grating material be greater than 1.7. The illumination and fabrication tolerances of the couplers are also analyzed.

Radial diffractive gratings are used to couple light of a white LED into a light guide. Theoretical coupling efficiencies are evaluated with rigorous diffraction theory in a pure conical mounting. It is shown that when the refractive index of the grating increases from 1.46 to 2.05 the incoupling efficiency increases from 42% to 63%. Also, with the increasing refractive index the incoupling efficiency is shown to become more nearly uniform over the visible spectrum. Experimental results for the incoupled efficiencies and the color coordinates of the incoupled spectra are introduced for refractive indices n=1.46 and n=1.56.

Ring-shaped and radial diffractive gratings are designed with rigorous diffraction theory to couple light of a nearly monochromatic LED into a thin planar light guide on the bottom side. The theoretical coupling efficiencies for ring-shaped and radial gratings are 41% and 66%, respectively. Optimized diffractive elements are manufactured with direct electron-beam lithography and reactive-ion-etching into SiO_2 substrates. Good agreement between experimental and theoretical results for selected radial gratings is reached. Furthermore, the mass production tests using injection molding are carried out with good replicability.

A LCD backlighting device that uses a diffractive light extractor has been developed for applications in which pointlike light sources are employed. The novel system eliminates the images of light sources, which appear as bright lines emanating from each source in the conventional diffractive approach. In addition, the system illuminates the LCD uniformly: Modulation of the diffractive structure as a function of position is used to control the output field of this extended planar light source.

Tailoring of the transverse intensity profiles of propagation-invariant optical fields is considered. The design of diffractive elements capable of realizing such fields by Fourier synthesis is discussed. High-efficiency realization of finite-aperture approximations of the constructed fields is demonstrated in a system consisting of two multilevel diffractive elements. The first element is a diffractive toroidal lens, which focuses the incident field into a ring pattern. The second diffractive element, located at the focal plane of the first element, introduces the phase modulation necessary to realize the desired transverse intensity profile behind a separate collimating lens. The influence of the fabrication errors of the diffractive elements on the fidelity of the propagation-invariant spot array is simulated, and system-integration aspects based on substrate-mode planar-integrated optics are considered.

Asymmetric transmission gratings operating in the resonance domain are designed by modeling of the dose-controlled electron-beam lithography process with Gaussian convolution. We aim to exceed some efficiency limit η_s over a specified spectral range and to maximize η_s. The resultant continuous-profile gratings are fabricated by electron-beam lithography and proportional reactive-ion etching into SiO_2. We demonstrate gratings with good signal-to-noise ratio and a diffraction efficiency greater than 40% for wavelengths from 400 to 750 nm.