Optical structure having a microstructure with a quadratic diffusion function

1. An optical structure ( 100 ) for a motor vehicle headlight lighting device ( 1 ) that is configured to emit light forming a specified light pattern (LP 1 ), wherein the optical structure ( 100 ) of the lighting device ( 1 ) is associated with the lighting device ( 1 ), or is part of it in such a way, that the optical structure ( 100 ) is transilluminated by essentially the entire luminous flux of the lighting device ( 1 ), and wherein:

the optical structure ( 100 ) consists of a number of optical structural elements ( 110 ) that have a light-scattering effect and that are designed in such a way that the unmodified light pattern (LP 1 ) produced by the lighting device ( 1 ) is modified by the optical structure ( 100 ) into a specifiable modified light pattern (LP 2 ),

the optical structural elements ( 110 ) have a quadrilateral base area ( 202 ), meaning that the area ( 202 ) between the vertices ( 201 ) of a quadrilateral grid ( 200 ) is completely covered by the base area of exactly one optical structural element ( 110 ),

the base area of each optical structural element ( 110 ) is formed by a rectangle or a square, and

the structural elements ( 110 ) have, in their vertex areas, vertex area elevations ( 110 b ), each of which is formed by a lateral face of a pyramidal elevation ( 111 b ), and have, in their centers, a central elevation ( 110 a ).

2. The optical structure of claim 1 , wherein the structural elements ( 110 ) have, in their centers, a central elevation ( 110 a ) with a circular base.

3. The optical structure of claim 1 , wherein the modified light pattern (LP 2 ) is formed by convolution of the unmodified light pattern (LP 1 ) with a spread function (PSF), and in that the optical structure ( 100 ) is designed in such a way that the unmodified light pattern (LP 1 ) is modified according to the spread function.

4. The optical structure of claim 3 , wherein the optical structural elements ( 110 ) are designed in such a way that every structural element ( 110 ) modifies the light beam (LB 1 ) passing through it according to the spread function (PSF) to produce a modified light beam (LB 2 ).

5. The optical structure of claim 1 , wherein the structural elements ( 110 ) are distributed over at least defined surface ( 111 ) of at least one optical element ( 5 , 6 ).

6. The optical structure of claim 1 , wherein the base of the central elevation ( 110 a ) extends to the four delimiting sides ( 203 ) of the quadrilateral base area ( 202 ).

7. The optical structure of claim 1 , wherein the central elevation ( 110 a ) has a continuous course over its entire surface.

8. The optical structure of claim 1 , wherein the central elevation ( 110 a ) has its maximum distance to the base area at the geometric center of its base area.

9. The optical structure of claim 1 , wherein the central elevation ( 110 a ) has its minimum distance to the base area on its circumference.

10. The optical structure of claim 9 , wherein the minimum distance of the circumference to the base area is equal to zero.

11. The optical structure of claim 1 , wherein all structural elements ( 110 ) lying on a vertex ( 201 ) of the grid contribute to the pyramidal elevation ( 111 b ).

12. The optical structure of claim 11 , wherein the apex ( 111 b ′) of a pyramidal elevation ( 111 b ) lies exactly over a grid point ( 201 ) of the grid ( 200 ).

13. The optical structure of claim 1 , wherein each of the optical structural elements ( 110 ) is designed to be symmetrical about its diagonal to have mirror symmetry.

14. The optical structure of claim 1 , wherein in a section through a pyramidal elevation ( 111 b ) in a plane normal to the base area ( 202 ) along a diagonal (A-A) the vertex area elevations ( 110 b ) have an essentially linear slope.

15. The optical structure of claim 1 , wherein in a section through a pyramidal elevation ( 111 b ) in a plane normal to the base area ( 202 ) along a delimiting side ( 203 ) the vertex area elevations ( 110 b ) have an essentially concave course.

16. The optical structure of claim 1 , wherein the central elevation ( 110 a ) and the vertex area elevations ( 110 b ) continuously transition into one another.

17. The optical structure of claim 1 , which is arranged on at least one boundary surface of an optical element that is designed in the form of a headlight lens ( 6 ) or in the form of a cover plate ( 6 ) of the lighting device ( 1 ).

18. The optical structure of claim 1 , which is arranged on at least one surface of an optical element in the form of a lens ( 5 ) comprising a projector lens of the lighting device ( 1 ).

19. The optical structure of claim 18 , which is arranged on the light exit side ( 5 a ) of the lens ( 5 ).

20. The optical structure of claim 1 , wherein the structural elements ( 110 ) of the optical structure ( 100 ) are distributed over the entire at least one boundary surface ( 5 a , 6 a ) of an optical element ( 5 , 6 ).

21. The optical structure of claim 1 , wherein all structural elements ( 110 ) are essentially identical.

22. The optical structure described of claim 1 , wherein all structural elements ( 110 ) are identical with respect to a planar surface or an imaginary planar surface ( 111 ).

23. The optical structure of claim 1 , wherein all structural elements ( 110 ) are identically oriented.

24. The optical structure of claim 1 , wherein the spread function is a point spread function (PSF).

25. The optical structure of claim 1 , wherein the dimension of a structural element ( 110 ), including a diameter (d) and/or a height (h) of the structural element ( 110 ), is greater than the wavelength of visible light.

26. The optical structure of claim 1 , wherein the height (h) of the structural elements ( 110 ) lies in the micrometer range.

27. The optical structure of claim 26 , wherein the height (h) of the structural elements ( 110 ) lies in the range 0.5-5 μm.

28. The optical structure of claim 27 , wherein the height (h) of the structural elements ( 110 ) lies in the range 1-3 μm.

29. The optical structure of claim 28 , wherein the height (h) of the structural elements ( 110 ) is about 2.7 μm.

30. The optical structure of claim 1 , wherein the diameter (d) or a length of the structural elements ( 110 ) lies in the millimeter range.

31. The optical structure of claim 30 , wherein the diameter (d) or a length of the structural elements ( 110 ) lies between 0.5-2 mm.

32. The optical structure of claim 31 , wherein the diameter (d) or a length of the structural elements ( 110 ) is about 1 mm.

33. The optical structure of claim 1 , wherein the defined surface ( 111 ) on which the structural elements ( 110 ) are distributed is subdivided into an imaginary regular grid structure ( 200 ), and the structural elements are arranged on the grid points ( 201 ) or between the grid points ( 201 ) of the grid structure ( 200 ).

34. The optical structure of claim 33 , wherein exactly one structural element ( 110 ) is arranged on each grid point ( 201 ) or between the grid points ( 201 ) of the grid structure ( 200 ).

35. The optical structure of claim 33 , wherein adjacent structural elements ( 110 ) change into one another, meaning that they are arranged to touch one another, or the structural elements ( 110 ) are isolated from one another, meaning that they are arranged not to touch one another.

36. The optical structure of claim 32 , wherein adjacent grid points ( 201 ) are separated by about 0.5-2 mm.

37. The optical structure of claim 1 , wherein the transition of the structural elements ( 110 ) to the defined surface ( 111 ) is continuous.

38. The optical structure of claim 37 , wherein the transition of the structural elements ( 110 ) to the defined surface ( 111 ) is C2-continuous.

39. The optical structure of claim 1 , for a lighting device ( 1 ) that is set up to project the light emitted from it in the form of a masked light pattern (LP 1 ) comprising a low beam pattern, the masked light pattern (LP 1 ) having a light/dark boundary (LD 1 ),

wherein the structural elements ( 110 ) or the spread function is/are designed in such a way to reduce the gradient of the light/dark boundary (LD 1 ) of the unmodified light pattern (LP 1 ) of the lighting device ( 1 ).

40. The optical structure of claim 1 , for a lighting device ( 1 ) that is set up to project the light emitted from it in the form of a masked light pattern (LP 1 ) comprising a low beam pattern, the masked light pattern having a light/dark boundary (LD 1 ),

wherein the structural elements ( 110 ) or the spread function is/are designed in such a way that part of the luminous flux of the lighting device ( 1 ) is projected into an area (LP 2 ′) above the light/dark boundary (LD 1 , LD 2 ).

41. The optical structure of claim 40 , wherein the deflected luminous flux lies in an area (LP 2 ′) between 1.5° and 4° above the HH line.

42. The optical structure of claim 40 , which deflects about 1% of the luminous flux of the lighting device ( 1 ) into an area (LP 2 ′) above the light/dark boundary (LD 1 , LD 2 ).

43. The optical structure of claim 1 , for a lighting device ( 1 ) that is set up to project the light emitted from it in the form of individual light patterns (LS 1 ) that are imaged in n rows and m columns, where n>1, m≥1 or n≥1, m>1, and that together form an entire light pattern (LP 1 ) comprising a high beam pattern,

wherein the structural elements ( 110 ) or the spread function is/are designed in such a way that at least part of the luminous flux of the lighting device ( 1 ) is deflected into the border areas, in each of which two individual light patterns border one another.

44. The optical structure of claim 43 , wherein adjacent individual light patterns (LS 1 ) of the unmodified light pattern (LP 1 ) have a defined distance(s) (d 1 , d 2 ) to one another.

45. The optical structure of claim 44 , wherein all distances (d 2 ) between adjacent individual light patterns (LS 1 ) are identical in the vertical direction.

46. The optical structure of claim 44 , wherein the individual light patterns (LS 1 ) have a width and/or a height of about 1°.

47. The optical structure of claim 44 , wherein the distance (d 1 , d 2 ) between two adjacent individual light patterns (LS 1 ) is less than or equal to 0.5° and greater than 0°.

48. The optical structure of claim 47 , wherein the distance (d 1 , d 2 ) between two adjacent individual light patterns (LS 1 ) is less than or equal to 0.2°.

49. The optical structure of claim 47 , wherein the distance (d 1 , d 2 ) between two adjacent individual light patterns (LS 1 ) lies between 0.05° and 0.15°.

50. The optical structure of claim 47 , wherein the distance between two adjacent individual light patterns (LS 1 ) is less than or equal to 0.1°.

51. The optical structure of claim 43 , wherein the individual light patterns (LS 1 ) of the unmodified light pattern (LP 1 ), have a rectangular or square shape when projected onto a vertical plane.

52. The optical structure of claim 44 , wherein all distances (d 1 ) between adjacent individual light patterns (LS 1 ) are identical in the horizontal direction.

53. The optical structure of claim 43 , wherein the average luminous intensity in a gap between two individual light patterns (LS 1 ) produced with the luminous flux that is intended for an individual light pattern corresponds to half the average luminous intensity in a bordering individual light pattern (LS 1 ) of the modified light pattern.

54. The optical structure of claim 43 , wherein it deflects part of that luminous flux that would, without an optical structure, produce exclusively one individual light pattern (LS 1 ), into the gap areas that frame this individual light pattern (LS 1 ) and that result from the spacing apart of the individual light patterns (LS 1 ) from one another.

55. The optical structure of claim 54 , wherein, starting from a viewed individual light pattern (LS 1 ), the luminous intensity in a bordering gap decreases in the direction toward the adjacent individual light pattern (LS 1 ), this decrease having a linear course.

56. The optical structure of claim 54 , wherein the luminous intensity decreases to zero.

57. The optical structure of claim 54 , wherein the luminous intensity in a gap directly bordering the edge of the viewed individual light pattern (LS 1 ) essentially corresponds to the luminous intensity of the individual light pattern (LS 1 ) of the modified light pattern at its edge or the average luminous intensity in the individual light pattern (LS 1 ) of the modified light pattern.

58. The optical structure of claim 1 , which is arranged and/or designed in such a way that essentially the entire luminous flux of the lighting device ( 1 ) impinges on the optical structure ( 100 ).

59. The optical structure of claim 1 , which is arranged and/or designed in such a way that it is essentially homogeneously illuminated.

60. A lighting device comprising at least one optical structure ( 100 ) of claim 1 .

61. The lighting device of claim 60 , which is a projection system.

62. The lighting device of claim 61 , which further comprises at least one light source ( 3 ), at least one reflector ( 2 ), and at least one lens ( 5 ) comprising a projector lens.

63. The lighting device of claim 62 , wherein the at least one optical structure ( 100 ) is arranged on the lens ( 5 ) and/or on an additional cover plate or headlight lens.

64. The lighting device it of claim 60 , which is a reflecting system.

65. The lighting device of claim 64 , which further comprises at least one freeform reflector ( 2 ) and at least one light source ( 3 ) and at least one headlight lens ( 6 ) and/or at least one cover plate ( 6 ).

66. The lighting device of claim 65 , wherein the at least one optical structure ( 100 ) is arranged on the at least one headlight lens ( 6 ) and/or the at least one cover plate ( 6 ) and/or an additional cover plate or headlight lens.

67. A vehicle headlight comprising at least one lighting device of claim 60 .