Patent ID: 7224867
Filing Date: 2007-05-29
Classification: G02B,G03H,Y10S

Abstract:
1. An optical apparatus comprising: an optical medium enabling substantially unconfined propagation of optical signals propagating in three dimensions therein; and a set of diffractive elements collectively arranged within the optical medium so as to exhibit a positional variation in amplitude, optical separation, or spatial phase over some portion of the set, the diffractive elements of the set being collectively arranged so as to apply a transfer function to an input optical signal successively incident on the diffractive elements of the set to produce an output optical signal, the transfer function being determined at least in part by said positional variation in amplitude, optical separation, or spatial phase exhibited by the diffractive elements of the set, wherein each diffractive element of the diffractive element set is individually contoured and positioned so as to preferentially route a portion of an optical signal between an input optical port and an output optical port.