Patent ID: 11921306
Assignee: II-VI DELAWARE, INC.
Field: Optics (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 11:
12. The article of claim 1, wherein:
each one of the diffraction gratings is configured to focus, collimate, or alter the far-field divergence of the one or more corresponding diffracted portions; or
each one of the diffraction gratings is sufficiently small in at least one transverse dimension so that, in the at least one transverse dimension, the far-field divergence of the corresponding diffracted beam exceeds an input beam far-field divergence of the corresponding incident beam; or
each one of the diffraction gratings is sufficiently small in both transverse dimensions so that in both transverse dimensions the far-field divergence of the corresponding diffracted beam exceeds an input beam far-field divergence of the corresponding incident beam; or
each one of the diffraction gratings is configured to produce the corresponding diffracted portions by the non-zero-order transmissive diffraction of a corresponding portion of the corresponding incident beam, and to suppress the zero-order transmission of the corresponding portion of the corresponding incident beam relative to the non-zero-order transmissive diffraction; or
each one of the diffraction gratings is configured to produce the corresponding diffracted portions by positive- and negative-first-order transmissive diffraction of the corresponding portion of the corresponding incident beam with only negligible second- or higher-order transmissive diffraction; or
one or more of the diffraction gratings are configured to produce the corresponding diffracted portions by first- and higher-order transmissive diffraction of the corresponding portion of the corresponding incident beam; or
each one of the diffraction gratings is configured to suppress the zero-order transmission and enhance the non-zero-order transmissive diffraction by selection of one or more of: substrate refractive index, refractive index of one or more corresponding grating materials, corresponding grating index contrast, corresponding thicknesses of one or more grating layers, grating depth, and corresponding grating duty cycle.