Method for design and manufacturing of optics for holographic sight
A method for design and fabrication of holographic optical elements for a compact holographic sight is proposed. The method includes use of ray-trace software to design holographic elements having optical power using an intermediate hologram with parameters obtained through minimization of the merit function defining image quality.
1. An optical device comprising a transparent light guide plate, two holograms secured to the light guide plate, a reticle or microdisplay placed on the transparent light guide plate, a damped least square optimized intermediate holographic element, and at least one LED module in the vicinity of the transparent light guide plate.
2. The optical device of claim 1 further comprising a diffuser.
3. The optical device of claim 1 wherein the light guide plate comprises glass, polycarbonate, acrylic, or mixtures thereof.
4. The optical device of claim 1 wherein the light guide plate comprises a thickness in the range of 3 to 6 mm.
5. The optical device of claim 1 wherein the light guide plate comprises a unitary body or a body comprised of a plurality of bodies.
6. The optical device of claim 1 wherein the light guide plate comprises a single material or a plurality of materials.
7. The optical device of claim 1 wherein the light guide plate comprises a reflective coating on at least one surface.
8. The optical device of claim 1 wherein the light guide plate comprises a tint.
9. The optical device of claim 1 wherein the light guide plate comprises the two holograms on a same surface of the light guide plate or an opposite surface of the light guide plate.
10. The optical device of claim 1 wherein at least one of the holograms comprises a holographic element having optical power.
11. The optical device of claim 1 wherein one of the holograms comprises a holographic lens and the second of the holograms comprises a holographic grating.
12. The optical device of claim 1 wherein the two holograms comprise Bragg holograms.
13. The optical device of claim 1 wherein the two holograms are recorded with lasers of at least three different colors.
14. The optical device of claim 1 wherein the holograms are either reflective or transmissive.
15. The optical device of claim 1 comprising more than one LED and a multiplexed hologram.
16. The optical device of claim 1 further comprising a mirror.
17. The optical device of claim 1 wherein the reticle comprises an image of one color or multiple images of one or multiple colors displayed simultaneously.
18. The optical device of claim 1 wherein at least one hologram is recorded using a divergent spherical wavefront and a collimated wavefront or a collimated wavefront and a wavefront generated by the damped least square optimized intermediate holographic element.
19. The optical device of claim 1 comprising an optical sight.