This application claims the priority of Chinese patent application. CN201810136357.0, entitled “Optical fiber scanner, optical fiber scanning device and optical fiber scanning apparatus” and filed on Feb. 9, 2018 as well as Chinese patent application CN201820236193.4, entitled “Optical fiber scanner, optical fiber scanning device and optical fiber scanning apparatus” and filed on Feb. 9, 2018, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present disclosure relates to the field of optical fiber scanning, and in particular, to an optical fiber scanner, an optical fiber scanning device and an optical fiber scanning apparatus.
Optical fiber scanners can scan according to trajectories pre-designed by designers so as to output images, thereby replacing traditional LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), LCOS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon) and OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) image sources, etc. In addition, fiber optical scanners can also be integrated into devices, such as HMDs (Head Mount Displays), micro-projectors and vehicle HUDs (Head Up Displays). Besides, optical fiber scanners can also be used in devices such as medical endoscopes and scanning tunneling microscopes, and have a wide range of applications.
As the requirements for image quality are getting higher and higher and the requirements for parameters such as image size and resolution are getting higher and higher, optical fiber scanners that can drive only one optical fiber can no longer meet the requirements.
Embodiments of the present disclosure provide an optical fiber scanner, an optical fiber scanning device and an optical fiber scanning apparatus, which are used for outputting high quality images.
In order to achieve the above object of the present disclosure, a first aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure provides an optical fiber scanner, including a slow-axis driving unit, a connector, and N fast-axis driving units. The connector has a slow-axis connecting structure for connecting the slow-axis driving unit, and N fast-axis connecting structures for connecting the N fast-axis driving units, and the slow-axis driving unit is connected to the N fast-axis driving units by means of the connector, N being an integer greater than or equal to 2.
Alternatively, the fast-axis driving units each have a sheet-like shape; and the N fast-axis driving units are fixed to the connector in parallel, or the N fast-axis driving units are fixed radially to the connector.
Alternatively, one or more optical fibers are fixed to each of the fast-axis driving units.
A second aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure provides an optical fiber scanning device, including a base and at least one optical fiber scanner according to the first aspect.
Alternatively, a surface of the base that carries the optical fiber scanner is a flat surface or a curved surface.
Alternatively, provided is a plurality of optical fiber scanners, the plurality of optical fiber scanners forming a j*k array, j and k being positive integers.
Alternatively, provided is a plurality of optical fiber scanners, the plurality of optical fiber scanners being arranged radially.
A third aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure provides an optical fiber scanning projection apparatus, including the optical fiber scanning device according to the second aspect and a plurality of laser light sources. Optical fibers in the optical fiber scanning device are in one-to-one correspondence with the laser light sources.
Alternatively, the laser light sources are solid lasers, gas lasers or optical fiber lasers.
Alternatively, the laser light sources include a red laser, a green laser, a blue laser, and a light combining unit.
One or more technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure have at least the following technical effects or advantages.
One slow-axis driving unit is connected to N fast-axis driving units by means of a connector, that is, one slow-axis driving unit can drive N fast-axis driving units simultaneously. In this way, the N fast-axis driving units can move synchronously in the vibration direction of the slow-axis driving unit, thereby achieving the technical effect of outputting high quality images. In addition, this can not only achieve large-size and high-resolution display by stitching N images of the N fast-axis driving units, while ensuring synchronous display without delay between the images emitted by the respective fast-axis driving units, but also helps to decrease the vibration frequency of the slow-axis driving unit so that the slow-axis driving unit with a relatively small size can achieve a relatively large scan range, and the driving method is simple, being conducive to the miniaturization of optical fiber scanners, thereby expanding application scenarios of optical fiber scanners.
Technical solutions in embodiments of the present disclosure will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with drawings in the embodiments of the present disclosure. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present disclosure, rather than all the embodiments of the present disclosure. Based on the embodiments of the present disclosure, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without inventive efforts shall fall within the protection scope of the present disclosure.
The embodiments of the present disclosure provide an optical fiber scanner, an optical fiber scanning device and an optical fiber scanning apparatus, which are used for outputting images with large size, high resolution and high frame rate.
A first aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure provides an optical fiber scanner. Referring to
In
Referring to
Of course, it should be noted that as a distance between an optical fiber scanner and an imaging screen changes, a distance and angle between various fast-axis driving units need to be changed accordingly, or a scanning trajectory of each optical fiber scanner needs to be adjusted accordingly. Those skilled in the art can make adjustments according to an actual situation, otherwise it will cause defects such as image overlap or stitching gaps in a stitched image, which will affect the image quality.
As can be seen, one slow-axis driving unit 101 is connected to N fast-axis driving units 103 through the connector 102, that is, one slow-axis driving unit 101 can drive N fast-axis driving units 103 simultaneously. In this way, the N fast-axis driving units can move synchronously in the vibration direction of the slow-axis driving unit, thereby achieving the technical effect of outputting high quality images. In addition, this can not only realize large-size and high-resolution display by stitching N images of the N fast-axis driving units 103, while ensuring synchronous display without delay between the images emitted by the respective fast-axis driving units 103, but also helps to reduce the vibration frequency of the slow-axis driving unit 101 so that the slow-axis driving unit 101 with a relatively small size can achieve a relatively large scan range, and the driving method is simple, being conducive to the miniaturization of optical fiber scanners, thereby expanding application scenarios of optical fiber scanners.
In the specific implementation process, the slow-axis driving unit 101 and the fast-axis driving units 103 in the optical fiber scanner are generally made of piezoelectric ceramics, and they generally have a sheet-like shape. The N fast-axis driving units may be fixed to the connector in parallel, or may be fixed radially to the connector. With continued reference to
In the specific implementation process, one or more optical fibers may be fixed to each fast-axis driving unit. With continued reference to
In
With continued reference to
Through the introduction of this embodiment, those skilled in the art can infer by analogy the specific structure when four or more fast-axis driving units are provided in the optical fiber scanner, and this will not be repeated here.
Based on the same inventive concept, a second aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure further provides an optical fiber scanning device. The optical fiber scanning device includes a base and the optical fiber scanner described in the first aspect. The optical fiber scanner has been described in detail in the first aspect, and it will be repeated here. The connection between the base and the optical fiber scanner is shown in
In the specific implementation process, when a plurality of optical fiber scanners is provided, the plurality of optical fiber scanners may be arranged in a j*k array, j and k being positive integers.
In
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
It should be noted that, in the present disclosure, a plurality of optical fiber scanners is arranged radially, which means that a distance between two ends of at least two optical fiber scanners on the base is smaller than a distance between two ends of the two optical fiber scanners away from the base. The technical solution in which a distance between two ends of any two optical fiber scanners is smaller than a distance between two ends of said two optical fiber scanners away from the base, as introduced in this embodiment, is merely an example, but cannot be used for limiting the present disclosure.
It can be seen that, in an optical fiber scanning device, one slow-axis driving unit is connected to N fast-axis driving units through a connector, that is, one slow-axis driving unit can drive N fast-axis driving units simultaneously. In this way, the N fast-axis driving units can move synchronously in the vibration direction of the slow-axis driving unit, thereby achieving the technical effect of outputting high quality images. In addition, this can not only realize large-size and high-resolution display by stitching N images of the N fast-axis driving units, while ensuring synchronous display without delay between the images emitted by the respective fast-axis driving units, but also helps to reduce the vibration frequency of the slow-axis driving unit so that the slow-axis driving unit with a relatively small size can achieve a relatively large swing, and the driving method is simple, being conducive to the miniaturization of optical fiber scanners and optical fiber scanning projection apparatuses.
Based on the same inventive concept, a third aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure further provides an optical fiber scanning projection apparatus, including the optical fiber scanning device described in the second aspect and a plurality of laser light sources. Optical fibers in the optical fiber scanning device are in one-to-one correspondence with the laser light sources, that is, laser light emitted by each optical fiber is provided by an independent laser light source.
In the specific implementation process, lasers may be solid lasers, gas lasers or optical fiber lasers. Solid lasers are lasers that use solid laser materials as working materials to generate laser light. Gas lasers are devices that use gases as working materials to generate laser light. Optical fiber lasers are lasers that use rare-earth-doped glass optical fibers as gain media. Of course, through the introduction of this embodiment, those skilled in the art can also use other suitable materials as working materials to generate laser light according to actual situations so as to meet requirements of actual situations, and this is not limited here.
In the specific implementation process, in order to enable laser light sources to emit laser light of various colors, a laser provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure includes a red laser, a green laser, a blue laser, and a light combining unit. Referring to
It can be seen that in an optical fiber scanning projection apparatus, one slow-axis driving unit is connected to N fast-axis driving units by means of a connector, that is, one slow-axis driving unit can drive N fast-axis driving units simultaneously. In this way, the N fast-axis driving units can move synchronously in the vibration direction of the slow-axis driving unit, thereby achieving the technical effect of outputting high quality images. In addition, this can not only realize large-size and high-resolution display by stitching N images of the N fast-axis driving units, while ensuring synchronous display without delay between the images emitted by the respective fast-axis driving units, but also helps to reduce the vibration frequency of the slow-axis driving unit so that the slow-axis driving unit with a relatively small size can achieve a relatively large scan range, and the driving method is simple, being conducive to the miniaturization of optical fiber scanners and optical fiber scanning projection apparatuses.
It should be noted that the above embodiments illustrate the present disclosure rather than limit the present disclosure, and those skilled in the art can design alternative embodiments without departing from the scope of the appended claims. In the claims, any reference signs placed in parentheses should not be constructed as limitation to the claims. The word “comprising” or “including” does not exclude the presence of elements or steps not listed in the claims. The word “a” or “an” preceding an element does not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements. The present disclosure can be implemented by means of hardware comprising several different elements and by means of a suitably programmed computer. In unit claims enumerating several devices, several of these devices may be embodied in the same hardware item. The use of the words first, second, and third does not indicate any order, and these words can be interpreted as names.
One or more technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure have at least the following technical effects or advantages.
A slow-axis driving unit is connected to N fast-axis driving units by means of a connector, that is, a slow-axis driving unit can drive N fast-axis driving units simultaneously. In this way, the N fast-axis driving units can move synchronously in the vibration direction of the slow-axis driving unit, thereby achieving the technical effect of outputting high quality images. In addition, this can not only realize large-size and high-resolution display by stitching N images of the N fast-axis driving units, while ensuring synchronous display without delay between the images emitted by the respective fast-axis driving units, but also helps to reduce the vibration frequency of the slow-axis driving unit so that the slow-axis driving unit with a relatively small size can achieve a relatively large swing, and the driving method is simple, being conducive to the miniaturization of optical fiber scanners, thereby expanding application scenarios of optical fiber scanners.
All features, or all methods or steps in a process disclosed in the present disclosure, except for mutually exclusive features and/or steps, can be combined in any manner.
Any feature disclosed in this description (including any appended claims, abstract and drawings), unless specifically stated, can be replaced by other equivalent features or alternative features with similar purposes. That is, unless otherwise stated, each feature is just an example of a series of equivalent or similar features.
The present disclosure is not limited to the foregoing specific embodiments. The present disclosure extends to any new features or any new combinations, as well as any new methods or steps of a process or any new combination disclosed in this description.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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201810136357.0 | Feb 2018 | CN | national |
201820236193.4 | Feb 2018 | CN | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/CN2019/073137 | 1/25/2019 | WO | 00 |