US 11,726,355 B2
Optical element for influencing light directions, arrangement for imaging a multiplicity of illuminated or self-luminous surfaces, and illumination device
Yannick Bourgin, Ilmtal-Weinstrasse OT Ossmannstedt (DE); André Heber, Weimar (DE); and Markus Klippstein, Jena (DE)
Assigned to siOPTICA GmbH, Jena (DE)
Appl. No. 17/759,431
Filed by siOPTICA GmbH, Jena (DE)
PCT Filed Mar. 29, 2021, PCT No. PCT/EP2021/058169
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jul. 25, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/204582, PCT Pub. Date Oct. 14, 2021.
Claims priority of application No. 10 2020 002 323.1 (DE), filed on Apr. 7, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0047322 A1, Feb. 16, 2023
Int. Cl. G02B 26/00 (2006.01); G02F 1/163 (2006.01); G02F 1/09 (2006.01); G02F 1/29 (2006.01); G02B 27/00 (2006.01)
CPC G02F 1/092 (2013.01) [G02B 26/005 (2013.01); G02B 27/0093 (2013.01); G02F 1/163 (2013.01); G02F 1/294 (2021.01); G02B 2207/115 (2013.01)] 14 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An optical element comprising:
a plate-shaped or shell-shaped substrate with a first large surface formed as a light-entrance surface and a second large surface formed as a light-exit surface,
a multiplicity of imaging elements formed on the second large surface of the substrate,
a plurality of diaphragms formed on or near the first large surface of the substrate, wherein a quantity of the plurality of diaphragms is not less than a quantity of the imaging elements, and wherein each diaphragm comprises at least one transparent region inside of an opaque region,
wherein the optical element, by way of actuation with one or more electromagnetic fields, is configured to be switched between at least a first operating mode and a second operating mode in that, via the actuation, at least some of the diaphragms are actuated to change their aperture width and/or their position in a plane parallel to the first large surface,
wherein exactly one diaphragm is associated with each imaging element at least in the first operating mode so that light passing through such a diaphragm is imaged by the associated imaging element,
as a result of which, light which arrives in the optical element through the diaphragms and then through the light-entrance surface of the substrate has different propagation angles, measured in one or two preferential directions, in the at least two operating modes after passing through the associated imaging elements, and an angle-dependent transmission of the arrived light is greater than 50% in the second operating mode and less than 50% in the first operating mode in an angular range of greater than 30° with reference to a selectable reference direction and measured in a preferential direction.