Optical waveguide light emitter and touchscreen

1 . An optical device for controlling light comprising:

a transparent substrate having a surface for emitting light from one or more external single-mode light sources;

one or more optical waveguides for guiding the emitted light, wherein the one or more waveguides are formed within the transparent substrate by direct laser writing and each of the one or more optical waveguides extending through the transparent substrate before curving toward the surface and each of the waveguides terminating at a plurality of outputs, wherein light that is coupled from one of the one or more external light sources into a corresponding one of the one or more optical waveguides is distributed to the plurality of outputs of the corresponding one of the one or more optical waveguides, wherein the plurality of outputs are within the transparent substrate spaced apart from the surface of the transparent substrate;

each of the one or more waveguides comprising one or more directional couplers configured for distributing light to the plurality of outputs of the corresponding waveguide.

2 . The optical device of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of the optical waveguides, wherein the outputs of the plurality of optical waveguides form a visual display.

3 . The optical device of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of the optical waveguides, wherein the outputs of the plurality of optical waveguides form a backlight for a visual display.

4 . The optical device of claim 3 wherein the plurality of waveguides comprises one waveguide for each subpixel of the visual display.

5 . The optical device of claim 3 , wherein the transparent substrate comprises wedges for reflecting light towards the one or more outputs or the surface of the transparent substrate.

6 . The optical device of claim 2 , further comprising:

one or more light sources configured to transmit light into an input of each of the plurality of optical waveguides, wherein the one or more light sources include multimode light sources.

7 . The optical device of claim 2 , wherein the outputs of the plurality of optical waveguides form an array.

8 . The optical device of claim 1 , wherein the outputs of the plurality of optical waveguides are formed at different distances from the surface of the transparent substrate.

9 . The optical device of claim 1 , wherein the transparent substrate consists of one of glass, crystal, or thermoplastic polymer.

10 . An integrated optical touch sensing display device comprising the optical devices of claim 1 .

11 . An optical device for controlling light comprising:

a transparent substrate having a surface for emitting light from one or more external single-mode light sources;

one or more optical waveguides for guiding the emitted light, wherein the one or more waveguides are formed within the transparent substrate by direct laser writing and each of the one or more optical waveguides extending through the transparent substrate before curving toward the surface and each of the waveguides terminating at a plurality of outputs, wherein light that is coupled from one of the one or more external light sources into a corresponding one of the one or more optical waveguides is distributed to the plurality of outputs of the corresponding one of the one or more optical waveguides, wherein the plurality of outputs are within the transparent substrate or at the surface of the transparent substrate;

each of the one or more optical waveguides comprising one or more directional couplers configured for distributing light to the plurality of outputs of the corresponding waveguide, wherein the one or more optical waveguides curve toward the surface between a corresponding one of the one or more directional couplers and a corresponding one of the plurality of outputs;

wherein each of the one or more optical waveguides extends from one or more inputs for coupling in light from a respective one of the one or more external light sources to one of the one or more directional couplers of the respective one of the one or more optical waveguides and each of the one or more optical waveguides split at the corresponding one of the one or more directional couplers of the respective one of the one or more optical waveguides into a first arm that curves towards the surface and extends to a corresponding one of the plurality of outputs of the respective one of the one or more optical waveguides and into a second arm that extends through the transparent substrate at least partially parallel to the surface.

12 . The optical device of claim 11 , wherein the transparent substrate consists of one of borosilicate glass, sapphire, or thermoplastic polymer.

13 . The optical device of claim 11 , wherein the one or more optical waveguides extend at least between the corresponding one of the one or more directional couplers and the corresponding one of the plurality of outputs.

14 . The optical device of claim 11 , wherein the one or more optical waveguides split at the one or more directional couplers.

15 . The optical device of claim 1 , wherein the transparent substrate has an input surface which is orthogonal to the surface for emitting light and an input of each of the one or more optical waveguides is at the input surface, wherein the one or more waveguides curve away from the surface for emitting light before curving toward the surface for emitting light.

16 . The optical device of claim 11 , comprising one or more light sources configured to transmit light into an input of each of the one or more optical waveguides, wherein the one or more light sources are single mode light sources.

17 . The optical device of claim 11 , wherein at each one of the directional couplers the first arm and the second arm of the corresponding one of the one or more optical waveguides extend for a section parallel to and spaced apart from each other before the first arm curves towards the surface for emitting light.

18 . The optical device of claim 2 , wherein the visual display comprises pixels, wherein the plurality of outputs of the one or more waveguides each correspond to one of the pixels, wherein each of the one or more directional couplers of the one or more optical waveguides comprises an interferometric structure proximate a position of the respective output of the respective one of the one or more waveguides, wherein the transparent substrate comprises transparent phase-shifters for controlling relative phases of the pixels.

19 . An optical device for controlling light comprising:

a transparent substrate having one or more surfaces for emitting light from one or more external single-mode light sources;

one or more optical waveguides for guiding the emitted light, the one or more optical waveguides comprising direct laser written optical waveguides in the transparent substrate, and each of the one or more optical waveguides extending through the transparent substrate before curving toward the one or more surfaces and each of the waveguides terminating at a plurality of outputs, wherein light coupled from one of the one or more external light sources into a corresponding one of the one or more optical waveguides is distributed to the plurality of outputs of the corresponding one of the one or more optical waveguides, wherein the plurality of outputs are within the transparent substrate or at the one or more surfaces of the transparent substrate;

each of the one or more waveguides comprising one or more directional couplers configured for distributing light to the plurality of outputs of the corresponding waveguide, wherein each of the one or more optical waveguides comprises at each one of the one or more directional couplers a first arm and a second arm, which extend for a section parallel to and spaced apart from each other, wherein following the section the second arm curves towards the one or more surfaces and extends to a corresponding one of the plurality of outputs of the respective one of the one or more optical waveguides.

20 . The optical device of claim 19 , wherein the second arm of each of the one or more waveguides at each directional coupler originates at the respective directional coupler.