OPTICAL PIPE USING PLASTIC SHEET

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide the optical pipe which has a simple structure and can efficiently distribute light to large area. SOLUTION: The optical pipe 4 has a waveguide 6 which receives Light at its one end and distributes the light along its length. The waveguide 6 has a combination of a mirror reflecting surface and a diffuse reflecting surface which are so arranged that part of the light is passed along the optical pipe mainly by mirror reflection and the rest is emitted out of the optical pipe 4 mainly by diffuse reflection. Those reflecting surfaces are substantially in parallel to the length axis of the optical pipe. More than one waveguide can be used to control light distribution characteristics of the optical pipe. Those waveguides can be formed of inexpensive plastic sheet substances.