High-efficiency prism light guides with confocal parabolic cross sections.
Prism light guides are often used for transporting and distributing light. Typically such guides are tubular structures lined with a flexible prismatic sheet material that confines light by means of total internal reflection. Inasmuch as the prismatic material is produced as a flat sheet, such guides require at least one seam in formation of the tubular structure, and the optical imperfection associated with seams is often a dominant loss mechanism. We present a new configuration for the cross-sectional shape of a prism light guide that substantially reduces the loss caused by such seams.
Whitehead
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LA
Dosanjh
P
P
Kan
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P