Large aperture at low cost three-dimensional time-of-flight range sensor using scanning micromirrors and synchronous detector switching.

In this article the problem of achieving fast scanning of a time-of-flight range sensor with a large optical receiver aperture at low system cost is targeted. The presented approach to solve this problem consists of a micromirror-based transmitter unit and a receiver unit consisting of a large aperture lens system with a small field of view and a detector array. A concept, which is called synchronous detector switching, is applied to the detector array.

Eye safety for scanning laser projection systems.

In the growing field of pico-projectors, laser-based scanning systems may be advantageous over DLP- or LCoS-based imagers due to their potential for miniaturization, enhanced optical efficiency and cost reduction. The high energy density of a combined laser beam can, however, be hazardous to the human eye. Laser projection systems must therefore be identified with the laser class, depending on their maximum optical output power.

Optical properties of highly nonlinear silicon-organic hybrid (SOH) waveguide geometries.

Geometry, nonlinearity, dispersion and two-photon absorption figure of merit of three basic silicon-organic hybrid waveguide designs are compared. Four-wave mixing and heterodyne pump-probe measurements show that all designs achieve high nonlinearities. The fundamental limitation of two-photon absorption in silicon is overcome using silicon-organic hybrid integration, with a five-fold improvement for the figure of merit (FOM).