Light guides

摘要

Lightguides are disclosed. More particularly, lightguides that include a lightguiding layer and a light extracting layer having a structured surface are disclosed. The light guiding layer is optically coupled to a first set of structures of the structured surface at given locations, and is not optically coupled to a second set of structures at given locations, thereby producing total internal reflection at the second locations. The selective optical coupling may be achieved by a number of different contemplated means as discussed herein. The lightguides allow for distribution of light along with redirection towards an image viewer without a number of commonly required optical elements in backlights.

主权项

1. A lightguide comprising:
a lightguiding layer comprising a first major surface, an opposing second major surface, and a side surface, the lightguiding layer receiving light from the side surface, the received light propagating within the lightguiding layer by total internal reflection from at least the first major surface; a structured surface facing the first major surface of the lightguiding layer and comprising:
a first plurality of first optical structures, each first optical structure extracting light from the lightguiding layer by frustrating total internal reflection at the first major surface of the lightguiding layer;a second plurality of second optical structures, each second optical structure not frustrating total internal reflection at the first major surface of the lightguiding layer; andan optical coupling layer, each first optical structure frustrating total internal reflection at the first major surface by being optically coupled to the lightguiding layer by the optical coupling layer, each second optical structure not frustrating total internal reflection at the first major surface by not being optically coupled to the lightguiding layer by the optical coupling layer.