CN114024207A

CN114024207A - Transmitting terminal and preparation method

Info

Publication number: CN114024207A
Application number: CN202010692557.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 吴尚亮; 陈俊逸; 谢前森
Original assignee: Ningbo Sunny Automotive Optech Co Ltd
Current assignee: Ningbo Sunny Automotive Optech Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-07-17
Filing date: 2020-07-17
Publication date: 2022-02-08

Abstract

The application provides a transmitting terminal and a method for preparing the transmitting terminal. The transmitting end includes: the light source module and a diffusion plate disposed on an optical path of light emitted from the light source module. The diffusion plate is provided with a light incidence surface and a light emergence surface, wherein at least one of the light incidence surface and the light emergence surface is provided with a microstructure array, so that the emergence angle of light emitted by the light source module after refraction through the diffusion plate realizes a target diffusion angle, and the maximum diffusion angle in any direction is larger than 120 degrees. The transmitting terminal provided by the application can realize real-time detection in an ultra-large range.

Description

Transmitting terminal and preparation method

Technical Field

The application relates to the technical field of optical equipment, in particular to an emitting end and a preparation method.

Background

With the increasing development of economic society, people have higher and higher requirements on the safety and intelligence of automobiles. With the application technology of the 3D interactive lens in the smart phone becoming more mature, many 3D interactive recognition technologies are directing attention to the automobile field. Numerous 3D interactive recognition techniques such as assisted driving, facial gesture recognition, etc. are successively applied in the field of vehicle-mounted. Of these, TOF (Time of Flight) is the most commonly used facial gesture recognition scheme. The design of the emitting end in the conventional flight time scheme is that an infrared LED is arranged at the position of a front dome lamp in a vehicle, and the infrared LED is used for emitting diffused light. Thus, the return light can be received by the camera with time of flight. However, the bandwidth ratio of the LED is relatively wide, and when the camera in flight receives light, stray light is easily introduced, thereby affecting the accuracy of recognition. In addition, the diffusion angle of the LED light is limited, making it difficult to include the passenger and the rear passenger in the detection range.

With the development of VCSEL (Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser), the cost performance approaches to that of LED. The VCSEL is matched with a plurality of diffusion plates to serve as a transmitting end of flight time, and large-angle detection can be achieved. However, such a transmitting end is bulky and relatively high in cost, and the assembling process of the transmitting end is too complicated and the assembling error is relatively high.

Therefore, there is a need for a transmitting terminal that can be combined with a VCSEL and can perform accurate, ultra-wide real-time probing of the entire interior space of a vehicle.

Disclosure of Invention

The present application provides a transmitting terminal that may address at least one or more of the above-identified deficiencies in the prior art.

One aspect of the present application provides a transmitting end, which includes: a light source module; and a diffusion plate disposed on an optical path of the light emitted from the light source module and having a light incident surface and a light exit surface, wherein at least one of the light incident surface and the light exit surface has a microstructure array for refracting the light out at a predetermined target diffusion angle to achieve a maximum diffusion angle of more than 120 ° in any direction. According to the embodiment of the present application, the microstructure array is disposed on one of the light incident surface and the light exit surface, and a surface of the light incident surface and the light exit surface on which the microstructure array is not disposed is a plane or a flat surface.

According to the embodiment of the present application, the microstructure array is disposed on the light incident surface, and the light exiting surface is a plane or a flat surface.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the microstructure array comprises a plurality of unitary microstructures, the exterior surface of the unitary microstructures being at least one of convex and concave.

According to the embodiment of the present application, the monomer microstructure has an aspect ratio a/b >1, where a is a height extending in a normal direction of a bottom surface of a base of the diffusion plate at a center of the bottom surface where the monomer microstructure contacts the light incident surface or the light exit surface; b is a radial dimension of a bottom surface of the monomer microstructure in contact with the light incident surface or the light exit surface of the base of the diffuser plate.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the shapes of the outer surfaces of the plurality of unitary microstructures are the same.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the shapes of the outer surfaces of the plurality of unitary microstructures are different.

According to an embodiment of the present application, each of the plurality of unitary microstructures is a microlens.

According to the embodiment of the present application, the surface types of the microlenses are the same.

According to the embodiment of the present application, the surface types of the respective microlenses are different.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the light source module is a vertical cavity surface emitting laser VCSEL.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the microstructure array comprises a plurality of unitary microstructures arranged to form the structure array by: determining the shape of the outer surface of each monomer microstructure and the final position of each monomer microstructure in the microstructure array according to the incidence angle of the monomer microstructures, the emergence angle of the monomer microstructures and the relation between the preset position of each monomer microstructure in the microstructure array and the shape of the outer surface of each monomer microstructure; and arranging the plurality of unitary microstructures at the determined positions to form the microstructure array such that a maximum diffusion angle of the light in any direction is greater than 120 °.

According to the embodiment of the application, the transmitting end is a TOF transmitting end or a laser radar transmitting end.

One aspect of the present application provides a method for preparing the transmitting terminal, wherein the method includes: disposing a microstructure array comprising a plurality of monomer microstructures on at least one of a light entry surface and a light exit surface of a diffuser plate; and disposing a light source module and the diffusion plate such that the diffusion plate is positioned on an optical path of light emitted from the light source module.

According to an embodiment of the application, the method further comprises: determining the shape of the outer surface of each monomer microstructure and the final position of each monomer microstructure in the microstructure array according to the incidence angle of the monomer microstructures, the emergence angle of the monomer microstructures and the relation between the preset position of each monomer microstructure in the microstructure array and the shape of the outer surface of each monomer microstructure; and arranging the plurality of single microstructures according to the determined positions to form the microstructure array.

According to the embodiment of the present application, the microstructure array is disposed on the light incident surface, and a surface of the light exit surface on which the microstructure array is not disposed is disposed as a plane or a flat surface.

According to the embodiment of the present application, the outer surface of the plurality of the single microstructures is provided as at least one of a convex surface and a concave surface.

According to an embodiment of the present application, each of the plurality of unitary microstructures is provided as a microlens.

According to the embodiment of the present application, the surface types of the respective microlenses are set to be the same.

According to the embodiment of the present application, the surface types of the respective microlenses are set to be different.

According to an embodiment of the application, the maximum divergence angle in any one direction of the predetermined target divergence angle is larger than 120 °.

According to the embodiment of the present application, the light source module is provided as a vertical cavity surface emitting laser VCSEL.

According to the embodiment of the application, the method is applied to the preparation of a TOF transmitting end or a laser radar transmitting end.

According to at least one scheme of the transmitting terminal provided by the application, at least one of the following beneficial effects can be achieved:

1. the whole volume of the transmitting end provided by the application is relatively small, and the diffusion angle of any angle can be realized by only one diffusion plate.

2. Compared with the emitting end using two or more diffusion plates, the emitting end using only one diffusion plate is simpler in assembly of the emitting end, and the system tolerance can be further reduced by using only one diffusion plate at the emitting end.

3. The cost of using only the emitter end of one diffuser plate has a certain reduction compared to using the emitter end of two or more diffuser plates.

Drawings

Other features, objects and advantages of the present application will become more apparent upon reading of the following detailed description of non-limiting embodiments thereof, made with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a transmitting end according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of the outer surface of a microstructure array on a diffuser plate at the emission end according to one embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the principle of optical refraction of a single microstructure in an array of microstructures according to one embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a grayscale image of a diffuser plate having an array of microstructures including the outer surface shown in FIG. 2 according to one embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a diffusion angle diagram of a diffuser plate having an array of microstructures including the outer surface shown in FIG. 2 according to one embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the outer surface of a microstructure array on a diffuser plate at an emission end according to another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a grayscale view of a diffuser plate having an array of microstructures including the outer surface shown in FIG. 6 according to another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a diffusion angle diagram of a diffuser plate having an array of microstructures including the outer surface shown in FIG. 6 according to another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic view of the outer surface of a microstructure array on a diffuser plate at an emission end according to another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 10 is a grayscale image of a diffuser plate having an array of microstructures including the outer surface shown in FIG. 9 according to another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 11 is a diffusion angle diagram of a diffuser plate having an array of microstructures including the outer surface shown in FIG. 9 according to another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 12 is a schematic view of the outer surface of a microstructure array on a diffuser plate at an emission end according to another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 13 is a grayscale image of a diffuser plate having an array of microstructures including the outer surface shown in FIG. 12 according to another embodiment of the present application; and

FIG. 14 is a diffusion angle diagram of a diffuser plate having an array of microstructures including the outer surface shown in FIG. 12 according to another embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

For a better understanding of the present application, various aspects of the present application will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that the detailed description is merely illustrative of exemplary embodiments of the present application and does not limit the scope of the present application in any way. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout the specification. The expression "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

It should be noted that in this specification, the expressions first, second, third, etc. are used only to distinguish one feature from another, and do not represent any limitation on the features. Thus, a first face discussed below may also be referred to as a second face without departing from the teachings of the present application. And vice versa.

It should be noted that in this specification, the expression of shape covers the features of face shape, size, height, style, and the like. Thus, "shape" in this application may refer to a "shape" as understood by those skilled in the art of this patent, without departing from the teachings of this application.

In the drawings, the thickness, size and shape of the components have been slightly adjusted for convenience of explanation. The figures are purely diagrammatic and not drawn to scale. As used herein, the terms "approximately", "about" and the like are used as table-approximating terms and not as table-degree terms, and are intended to account for inherent deviations in measured or calculated values that would be recognized by one of ordinary skill in the art.

It will be further understood that terms such as "comprising," "including," "having," "including," and/or "containing," when used in this specification, are open-ended and not closed-ended, and specify the presence of stated features, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. Furthermore, when a statement such as "at least one of" appears after a list of listed features, it modifies that entire list of features rather than just individual elements in the list. Furthermore, when describing embodiments of the present application, the use of "may" mean "one or more embodiments of the present application. Also, the term "exemplary" is intended to refer to an example or illustration.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including engineering and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this application belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

It should be noted that the embodiments and features of the embodiments in the present application may be combined with each other without conflict. In addition, unless explicitly defined or contradicted by context, the specific steps included in the methods described herein are not necessarily limited to the order described, but can be performed in any order or in parallel. The present application will be described in detail below with reference to the embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a transmitting end 1000 according to an embodiment of the present application; and fig. 2 is a schematic illustration of an outer surface 1241 of a microstructure array 1230 on a diffuser plate 1200 of an emission end 1000 according to an embodiment of the present application.

The transmitting terminal can be applied to a TOF transmitting terminal or a laser radar transmitting terminal. TOF is an abbreviation of Time of Flight (TOF) technology, i.e. a sensor emits modulated near-infrared light, which is reflected after encountering an object, and the sensor converts the distance of the measured object by calculating the Time difference or phase difference between light emission and reflection to generate depth information, and in addition, the three-dimensional profile of the object can be presented in a topographic map mode that different colors represent different distances by combining with the shooting of a traditional camera. The TOF emission end is mainly used for emitting modulated near infrared light to a detected target object. As shown in fig. 1, a transmitting end 1000 according to an embodiment of the present application may include: a light source module 1100 and a diffusion plate 1200.

The light source module 1100 may be fixedly mounted on a fixed support on a housing, such as a TOF transmitting end or a lidar transmitting end. Further, an auxiliary device (not shown) such as a mirror for changing a projection direction of the light emitted from the light source module 1100 or an adjustable bracket for fixing the light source module 1100 may be further provided in the light source module 1100. The light source module 1100 includes at least one light source that can emit near infrared light, such as an IR LED (infrared Emitting tube) or a VCSEL (Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser). It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the composition, structure, and number or type of light source modules may be varied to achieve the various results and advantages described in this specification without departing from the claimed subject matter.

Referring to fig. 1, a diffusion plate 1200 is disposed on an optical path of a light beam emitted from a light source module 1100, and the light beam from the light source module 1100 may be refracted by a microstructure array 1230 disposed thereon to diffuse the light beam with concentrated energy, thereby increasing a divergence angle of the light beam, and having emitted the modulated light beam to a target object to be measured while satisfying a predetermined target divergence angle.

The diffusion plate 1200 has first and second opposite surfaces, and when the diffusion plate 1200 is disposed on an optical path of light emitted from the light source module 1100, the first and second opposite surfaces are disposed perpendicular to the optical path, and light beams emitted from the light source module 1100 may be incident from one surface (e.g., the first surface) and be emitted from the other surface (e.g., the second surface). The first face may be referred to as a light incident surface 1251 and the second face as a light exit surface 1252. The material of the diffuser plate 1200 is not limited in this application, and the material, structure, etc. of the diffuser plate can be changed to achieve the various results and advantages described in this specification without departing from the claimed technical solutions.

The microstructure array 1230 that refracts the light beam from the light source module 1100 may be disposed on any one of the light incident surface 1251 and the light exit surface 1252 of the diffusion plate 1200. That is, the microstructure array 1230 may be provided on both the light incident surface 1251 and the light exit surface 1252, or the microstructure array 1230 may be provided on only one of the light incident surface 1251 and the light exit surface 1252. When the microstructure array 1230 is disposed on only one of the surfaces, the other surface on which the microstructure array 1230 is not disposed may be a flat surface, or a flat surface that is not a standard plane.

Further, in one embodiment, only the light incident surface 1251 of the diffusion plate 1200 may be selectively provided with the microstructure array 1230, and the light exit surface 1252 not provided with the microstructure array 1230 may be provided as a flat surface, or a flat surface that is not a standard plane.

As shown in fig. 1 and 2, microstructure array 1230 includes a plurality of unitary microstructures 1240 having a three-dimensional form. The diffusion plate 1200 (the substrate 1250 and the microstructure array 1230 thereon) can be manufactured by integral molding. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the materials used to prepare the microstructure array, the manner of preparation, etc., can be varied to achieve the results and advantages described herein without departing from the claimed subject matter.

One side of the unitary microstructure 1240 having a three-dimensional form may be, for example, an outer surface 1241 that receives a light beam from the light source module 1100. The side of the unitary microstructure 1240 opposite to the outer surface 1241 may be a bottom surface 1242 connected to the light incident surface 1251 or the light exit surface 1252 of the diffusion plate 1200.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of the principle of optical refraction of the unitary microstructures 1240 in the microstructure array 1230 according to an embodiment of the present application.

As shown in fig. 3, in one embodiment, when the microstructure array 1230 is disposed only on the light incident surface 1251 of the diffusion plate 1200, the light beam emitted from the light source module 1100 is emitted to the diffusion plate 1200, the incident light beam passes through the outer surface 1241 of the single microstructure 1240, is refracted for the first time into the single microstructure 1240 with an incident angle θ and a refracted angle θ 'after the first refraction, and when the light beam after the first refraction continues to pass and contacts the bottom surface 1242 of the single microstructure 1240, the light beam passes through the bottom surface 1242 and enters the substrate 1250 of the diffusion plate 1200, and the light beam in the substrate 1250 of the diffusion plate 1200 is refracted again when passing through the exit surface 1252 with an incident angle θ - θ' and an exit angle θ ″ after the second refraction, and exits from the surface. After the light beam emitted from the light source module 1100 is refracted by the diffusion plate 1200 for a plurality of times, the emitted light beam with concentrated energy is diffused and can satisfy a predetermined target diffusion angle when being emitted to the object to be measured.

Alternatively, the microstructure array 1230 may be further provided on the light exit surface 1252, or both the light entrance surface 1251 and the light exit surface 1252, to refract the light beam emitted from the light source module 1100 a plurality of times so that the emitted light beam having concentrated energy is emitted to the object to be measured while satisfying a predetermined target diffusion angle. When the microstructure array 1230 is selectively provided on the light exit surface 1252, or both of the light incident surface 1251 and the light exit surface 1252, the design can be made with reference to the case where the microstructure array 1230 is provided on the light incident surface 1251.

In embodiments of the present application, the microstructure array 1230 can be designed according to a predetermined target spread angle or specific requirements of the target under test.

Referring to fig. 2 and 3, taking as an example the case where the microstructure array 1230 is provided only on the light incident surface 1251 of the diffusion plate 1200, according to the marginal ray theory, all rays incident on the system at the maximum incident angle in an ideal optical system (no reflection, refraction, scattering, etc. energy loss case) must exit from the edge of the exit aperture, and fresnel's law of refraction: n1 × sin θ ═ n2 × sin θ '(where n1 and n2 are refractive indices of two media, respectively, and θ' are an incident angle of incident light and a refractive angle of refracted light, respectively), two formulas applicable to the present application can be obtained:

sinθ＝n×sinθ’ (1)

n×sin(θ-θ’)＝sinθ” (2)

where θ is the incident angle when an incident light beam passes through the light incident face 1241 of the unitary microstructure 1240; n is the refractive index of the diffuser plate 1200; θ' is the angle of refraction at which the first refraction occurs in the unitary microstructure 1240; θ - θ' is the angle of incidence at which the second refraction occurs; and θ "is the exit angle of the light beam from the base of the diffuser plate 1200 into the air after the second refraction has occurred, and is also the predetermined target diffusion angle of the incident light beam after refraction by the diffuser plate 1200 with the single unitary microstructures 1240.

The incidence angle θ corresponding to the single microstructures 1240 constituting the microstructure array 1230 under the condition that the light beam emitted from the light source module 1100 is not changed can be inversely derived through the formulas (1) and (2) according to the predetermined target diffusion angle (exit angle) of the single microstructures 1240 or the specific requirement of the measured target, and then the shape of the outer surface of the whole microstructure array can be fitted according to the slope (tan θ) of the incidence angle θ and the position of each single microstructure 1240 in the microstructure array 1230.

FIG. 4 is a grayscale view of a diffuser plate 1200 having a microstructure array 1230 including an outer surface 1241 shown in FIG. 2 according to an embodiment of the present application; and fig. 5 is a diffusion angle diagram of a diffusion plate 1200 having a microstructure array 1230 including an outer surface 1241 shown in fig. 2, according to an embodiment of the present application.

Referring to fig. 2 to 5, in one embodiment of the present application, taking as an example that the microstructure array 1230 is provided only on the light incident surface 1251 of the diffusion plate 1200, when the predetermined target diffusion angle of the diffusion plate 1200 is 160 ° × 120 °, the shape of the outer surface of the entire microstructure array 1230 may be found according to the target diffusion angle and known setting conditions, and the microstructure array 1230 is provided on the base 1250 of the diffusion plate 1200.

The microstructure array 1230 may be provided only on the light incident surface 1251 of the diffusion plate 1200, and the outer surface 1241 of each of the unitary microstructures 1240 may be set to be convex.

In each of the unitary microstructures 1240, an aspect ratio a/b >1 is satisfied, where a is a height extending in a normal direction of the bottom surface 1242 at a center of the bottom surface 1242 where each of the unitary microstructures 1240 contacts the light incident surface 1251 of the diffuser plate 1200, and b is a radial dimension of the bottom surface 1242.

The specific convex shape of the outer surface 1241 of each unitary microstructure 1240 can be the same or different.

Taking the example of disposing the microstructure array 1230 only on the light incident surface 1251 of the diffusion plate 1200, the method of preparing the emission end 1000 having the above-described predetermined target diffusion angle of 160 ° × 120 ° includes:

s1: a microstructure array 1230 comprising a plurality of unitary microstructures 1240 is disposed on the diffuser plate 1200.

Alternatively, the dimensions of the unitary microstructures 1240 can be determined, for example, the length and width of the unitary microstructures 1240 can be selected to be 50 × 50 um.

Based on the predetermined target diffusion angle, the preset position of each of the unitary microstructures 1240 in the microstructure array 1230 and the predetermined target diffusion angle of each of the unitary microstructures 1240, which is also the exit angle θ ″ of the incident light beam from the diffusion plate 1200 to the air after the incident light beam is refracted for the second time through the diffusion plate 1200 having the unitary microstructures 1240, are determined.

According to the predetermined target diffusion angle of 160 ° × 120 ° and the known setting conditions described above, the shape of the outer surface 1241 of each unitary microstructure 1240 and the final position thereof in the microstructure array 1230 are determined according to the slope (tan θ) of the incident angle θ and the relationship between the preset position of each unitary microstructure 1240 in the microstructure array 1230 and the shape of the outer surface 1241 of each unitary microstructure 1240 under the condition that the light emitted from the light source module 1100 is unchanged by the formulas (1) and (2). Further, the shape of the outer surface of the entire microstructure array is fitted, and the microstructure array 1230 is disposed on the diffusion plate 1200 according to the shape.

The microstructure array 1230 is provided on the light incident surface 1251 of the diffusion plate 1200, and the light exit surface is provided as a flat surface which is a plane or a non-standard plane. The microstructure array 1230 and the diffusion plate 1200 may be manufactured by a process method such as integral molding, which is not limited in this application.

S2: a light source module 1100 and a diffusion plate 1200 are provided

The light sources and the number of the light sources included in the light source module 1100 may be set as required, for example, an IR LED (infrared Emitting tube) or a VCSEL (Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser) may be selected.

The light source module 1100 may be fixedly mounted on a fixed support on a housing, such as a TOF transmitting end or a lidar transmitting end.

The diffusion plate 1200 on which the microstructure array 1230 has been formed in the step S1 is disposed on the optical path of the light emitted from the light source module 1100.

Fig. 2 and 4 are an external surface shape and a gray scale of a diffusion plate 1200 having a diffusion angle of 160 ° × 120 ° calculated according to the above method, fig. 5 is a diffusion angle view of a bundle of parallel light beams irradiated to the diffusion plate 1200, and it can be seen from fig. 5 that a divergence angle α of the laser radar transmitting end is 160 ° × 120 °.

Further, when the microstructure array 1230 is provided at least one of the light incident surface 1251 and the light exit surface 1252 of the diffusion plate 1200, the emission end 1000 can achieve a predetermined target diffusion angle arbitrarily smaller than 180 ° × 180 °.

Likewise, the known setting conditions may be changed to realize the above-described transmitting end 1000 having the predetermined diffusion angle of 160 ° × 120 °.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of an outer surface 1241 of a microstructure array 1230 on a diffuser plate 1200 of an emission end 1000 according to another embodiment of the present application; FIG. 7 is a grayscale view of a diffuser plate 1200 having a microstructure array 1230 including an outer surface 1241 shown in FIG. 6 according to another embodiment of the present application; and fig. 8 is a diffusion angle diagram of a diffusion plate 1200 having a microstructure array 1230 including an outer surface 1241 shown in fig. 6 according to another embodiment of the present application.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, as shown in fig. 6, the outer surface 1241 of each of the unitary microstructures 1240 may be set to be concave, and the microstructure array 1230 may be also located on the light incident surface 1251 of the diffusion plate 1200. According to the aforementioned method of manufacturing the transmitting end 1000, the gray scale of the diffusion plate 1200 and the schematic structure of the microstructure array 1230 are obtained, as shown in fig. 6 and 7, which have the same diffusion angle of 160 ° × 120 °, and fig. 8 is a diagram of the diffusion angle of a parallel light beam after being irradiated to the diffusion plate 1200, and it can be seen from fig. 8 that the divergence angle α of the laser radar transmitting end is 160 ° × 120 °.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of an outer surface 1241 of a microstructure array 1230 on a diffuser plate 1200 of an emission end 1000 according to another embodiment of the present application; FIG. 10 is a grayscale view of a diffuser plate 1200 having a microstructure array 1230 including an outer surface 1241 shown in FIG. 9 according to another embodiment of the present application; and fig. 11 is a diffusion angle diagram of a diffusion plate 1200 having a microstructure array 1230 including an outer surface 1241 shown in fig. 9 according to another embodiment of the present application.

The present application further provides a diffuser plate 1200 capable of achieving a divergence angle of 160 ° x 160 °, as shown in fig. 9, the outer surface 1241 of the single microstructure 1240 used is convex, and the microstructure array 1230 may also be located on the light incident surface 1251 of the diffuser plate 1200. According to the aforementioned method of manufacturing the transmitting end 1000, the gray scale of the diffusion plate 1200 and the schematic structure of the microstructure array 1230 shown in fig. 9 and 10 are obtained, where the diffusion angle is 160 ° × 160 °, and fig. 11 is a diagram of the diffusion angle of a parallel light beam after being irradiated to the diffusion plate 1200, and it can be seen from fig. 11 that the divergence angle α of the laser radar transmitting end is 160 ° × 160 °.

Similarly, the microstructure array 1230 on the diffusion plate 1200 may also be composed of the single microstructures 1240 with concave outer surfaces 1241, or composed of the single microstructures 1240 with concave or convex outer surfaces 1241, which is not limited in this application.

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of an outer surface 1241 of a microstructure array 1230 on a diffuser plate 1200 of an emission end 1000 according to another embodiment of the present application; FIG. 13 is a grayscale view of a diffuser plate 1200 having a microstructure array 1230 including an outer surface 1241 shown in FIG. 12 according to another embodiment of the present application; and fig. 14 is a diffusion angle diagram of a diffusion plate 1200 having a microstructure array 1230 including an outer surface 1241 shown in fig. 12 according to another embodiment of the present application.

The present application further provides a diffuser plate 1200 capable of achieving a divergence angle of 150 ° x 110 °, as shown in fig. 12, the single microstructures 1240 are used with a convex outer surface 1241, and the microstructure array 1230 can be also located on the light incident surface 1251 of the diffuser plate 1200. According to the aforementioned method of manufacturing the emitting end 1000, the gray scale pattern of the diffusion plate 1200 and the structural schematic view of the microstructure array 1230 having the diffusion angle of 150 ° × 110 ° as shown in fig. 12 and 13 can be obtained, fig. 14 is a view of the diffusion angle of a parallel light beam after being irradiated to the diffusion plate 1200, and it can be seen from fig. 14 that the diffusion angle α at the laser radar emitting end is 150 ° × 110 °.

Further, the individual microstructures 1240 may be microlenses, that is, the microstructure array 1230 on the diffusion plate 1200 is a microlens array, and as can be seen from the above embodiments, each microlens may be formed by the same surface type or different surface types to satisfy the predetermined diffusion angle of the emission end.

The above description is only an embodiment of the present application and an illustration of the technical principles applied. It will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that the scope of protection covered by the present application is not limited to the embodiments with a specific combination of the features described above, but also covers other embodiments with any combination of the features described above or their equivalents without departing from the technical idea. For example, the above features may be replaced with (but not limited to) features having similar functions disclosed in the present application.

Claims

1. A transmitting end, comprising:

a light source module; and

a diffusion plate disposed on an optical path of the light emitted from the light source module and having a light incident surface and a light exit surface,

characterized in that an array of microstructures is present on at least one of the light entry surface and the light exit surface for refracting the light out at a predetermined target diffusion angle to achieve a maximum diffusion angle of greater than 120 ° in either direction.

2. The emitter end of claim 1, wherein the microstructure array is disposed on one of the light incident surface and the light exiting surface, and a surface of the light incident surface and the light exiting surface on which the microstructure array is not disposed is a plane or a flat surface.

3. The tip of claim 2, wherein the array of microstructures is disposed on the light incident surface and the light exiting surface is a flat surface.

4. The emitter tip of claim 1, wherein said microstructure array comprises a plurality of unitary microstructures, said unitary microstructures having an outer surface that is at least one of convex and concave.

5. The emitter tip according to claim 4, wherein the aspect ratio of the unitary microstructures satisfies: a/b is greater than 1, and a/b is greater than 1,

wherein a is a height extending in a normal direction of a bottom surface of a base of the diffusion plate at a center of the bottom surface where the monomer microstructure contacts the light incident surface or the light exit surface;

b is a radial dimension of a bottom surface of the monomer microstructure in contact with the light incident surface or the light exit surface of the base of the diffuser plate.

6. The emitter tip according to claim 4, wherein the outer surfaces of the plurality of unitary microstructures are identical in shape.

7. The emitter tip according to claim 4, wherein the shapes of the outer surfaces of the plurality of unitary microstructures are different.

8. The emitter tip according to any of claims 4-7, wherein each of said plurality of unitary microstructures is a microlens.

9. The emitter end of claim 4, wherein said microstructure array comprises a plurality of unitary microstructures arranged to form said structure array by:

determining the shape of the outer surface of each monomer microstructure and the final position of each monomer microstructure in the microstructure array according to the incidence angle of the monomer microstructures, the emergence angle of the monomer microstructures and the relation between the preset position of each monomer microstructure in the microstructure array and the shape of the outer surface of each monomer microstructure; and

arranging the plurality of unitary microstructures at the determined locations to form the array of microstructures such that a maximum spread angle of the light in any direction is greater than 120 °.

10. A method for preparing the transmitting end according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the method comprises:

disposing a microstructure array comprising a plurality of monomer microstructures on at least one of a light entry surface and a light exit surface of a diffuser plate; and

the light source module and the diffusion plate are disposed such that the diffusion plate is positioned on an optical path of light emitted from the light source module.