Abstract:
A heat-dissipating headlamp assembly comprises a housing including a light source such as a light-emitting diode (LED) disposed therein, and a detachable heat shroud covering the rearward portion of the housing. In the preferred embodiment the housing includes a pair of opposing detents, and the detachable heat shroud includes a pair of opposing protrusions that cooperate with the detents to hold the shroud in position. The assembly further includes a mounting bracket extending downwardly from the rearward portion for attachment to a headband, spectacle frames, or other head-worn item, and the heat shroud includes an upper rearward notch to accommodate the electrical cable connected to the light source and a lower rearward notch to accommodate the mounting bracket. The heat shroud is generally cylindrical in shape, and so, too, is the housing, at least where the heat shroud attaches thereto.
Abstract:
Holographic optical elements relatively free of unwanted, secondary fringes are produced using light having a limited coherence. A photosensitive material of a predetermined thickness records the interference between two beams of light. The mutual coherence of the two illumination beams is sufficiently great to form high contrast interference fringes within some portion of the photosensitive medium. The mutual coherence is limited to prevent the formation of high contrast interference with reflections from the various parts of the construction optics. The two illumination beams may be incident from opposite sides of the photosensitive medium forming a reflection holographic optical element or from the same side of the photosensitive medium forming a transmission holographic optical element. A laser generates the first illumination beam. Control of the mutual coherence may be by passing the first illumination beam through a moving diffuser plate or by varying the wavelength of the laser during the exposure. The second illumination beam may be formed by a reflector in contact with the photosensitive medium or by a beam splitter.
Abstract:
An on-axis thick phase holographic optical element for use as a lens is fabricated by incorporating two off-axis holograms of two point sources located on opposite sides of the plate made by use of reference beams having a common angle with respect to the photographic media and complementary curvatures in the two cases. The element may be formed either by forming the two holograms in a single photographic emulsion, incoherently relative to one another, using a double exposure technique, or by forming the holograms on two physically separated media and then joining them to one another with their emulsion sides in contact. The resultant elements enjoy the low dispersion and aberrations like a conventional on-axis thin holographic optical element and the high diffraction efficiency like a thick hologram and additionally provide an extremely high ratio of diffracted to undiffracted light energy in the on-axis image.
Abstract:
An improved illuminator with an adjustable beam pattern to be worn by medical and dental professionals includes a housing, a light-emitting diode (LED) disposed in the housing outputting light through a distal opening in the housing, an achromatic doublet lens mounted in the opening in the housing, and a singlet lens disposed between the LED and the achromatic lens. The distance between the singlet lens and the doublet lens may be adjustable, and/or distance between the LED and the singlet lens may be adjustable, through a threaded connections, for example. In the preferred embodiment, the achromatic doublet lens, the singlet lens, or both the singlet and the doublet lens have a planar surface.
Abstract:
The present invention is a technique for construction of a laser protection window providing broadened angular protection. Plural modulated index of refraction filter elements are constructed to reflect incident light at a predetermined laser threat wavelength over a cone of protection. The plurality of modulated index of refraction filter elements are disposed in tandem at angles to a direction of primary view through the laser protection window which are symmetrical with respect to the direction of primary view. In a first embodiment, a first optional modulated index of refraction filter element is disposed perpendicular to the direction of primary view; the other modulated index of refraction filter elements are disposed in pairs at opposing angles to the direction of primary view. In an alternative embodiment, the angled modulated index of refraction filter element plates are formed of angled segments. The plural modulated index of refraction filter elements may be angled in two planes to provide extended angular coverage both horizontally and vertically.
Abstract:
Holographic optical elements relatively free of unwanted, secondary fringes are produced by passing the light beam from a laser through a rotating diffusing plate to generate a beam of light having a very limited coherence length and a spatial coherence which changes over a period of time. A photographic emulsion having a mirror supported on its reverse side is illuminated by the beam and interference occurs between this primary illumination and illumination reflected from the mirror, creating fringes. No other interference fringes are formed because of the lack of coherence between secondary reflections and other rays of the incident beam. The rotation of the diffusion plate time averages out speckle patterns which would otherwise occur. Alternatively, the illuminating beam has a high degree of spatial coherence but its temporal coherence is reduced and varied over a period of time by changing the wavelength of a tunable-dye laser. Alternatively to use of the mirror technique the reduced coherence length beam may be divided into two sections which both illuminate the media at an angle after passing through precisely the same path length so that they interfere within the narrow coherence length of the light beams.
Abstract:
An improved head-mounted optical illuminator or magnifier of the type worn by a medical or dental professional includes an optical coating applied to one or more optical surfaces associated with the illuminator or magnifier, and wherein the optical coating is a rejection coating operative to blocks wavelengths in the green, blue, violet and/or ultraviolet portions of the electromagnetic spectrum, depending upon the embodiment. Short-wavelength coatings (blue/violet/uv) may be applied to the surface of a lens used in a head-worn illuminator, for example to the beam-forming optics. The head-worn illuminator may be an LED illuminator, xenon illuminator, or other high-intensity source. In the case of the green notch filter coatings, these would typically only be applied to a head-worn magnifier, including flip-up and through-the-lens styles. In all embodiments, the optical coating may be a multilayer dielectric coating, a holographic filter, or utilize other optical filter technology.
Abstract:
An ocular mounting assembly with mechanical stabilization includes a housing with a through-bore having an interior and opposing open ends, the interior of the through-bore being defined in part by an upper wall having a lower surface interior to the through-bore, and a lower wall having an upper surface interior to the through-bore. A pair of support arms are provided, each arm being slidingly received by a respective one of the open ends of the through-bore of the housing. A pair of stabilizing bodies are also provided, each body being positioned between a respecting one of the support arms and the interior of the housing. In contrast to existing designs, both stabilizing bodies are either positioned between a support arm and the lower surface of the upper wall of the housing, or between a support arm and the upper surface of the lower wall of the housing.