Design of planar-binary optical visor

Compared to the holographic elements, the binary optical element (BOE) is more flexible and powerful in its design, functionality and fabrication. Better optical performance, with the advantages of compactness, lightweight, and low cost, is possible if the BOE based optical system is made monolithic. In this paper a monolithic planar-binary integrated optical visor with two couplers is proposed, designed and analyzed. One of the couplers directs the light into the glass slide substrate so that the light can travel within a planar passage via total internal reflection; the other couples the light out of the optical plate and into the wearer's eyes. Meanwhile, a binary lens array is adopted on the surface of the input end, so the visor can serve its imaging function with minimal geometrical aberrations. A bi-blazed diffractive structure of BOL is proposed to correct the chromatic aberrations and achieve achromatic imaging over the visible range.