How Light Shaping Diffusers Work

LSD® diffuser films are passive, weakly diffracting, optical components with random (non-periodic) holographic surface relief patterns that perform spectral and angular redistribution of energy carried by wavefronts of coherent sources (like lasers) and partially coherent sources (like cold cathode fluorescent tubes and light emitting diodes).

The light intensity from a source is redistributed, along the 3D microstructure surface of the LSD film, by changing both the amplitude and phase of each local wavefront creating a statistical ensemble of micro-diffraction profiles in the far-field. The intensity from all the individual micro-diffraction distributions combine to produce the final illumination footprint.

These components are fabricated using patented holographic exposure techniques involving laser recording of sub-micron speckle features in photosensitive materials. The size and orientation of the speckles can be custom tailored to meet brightness, uniformity, and viewing angle requirements for a given application. These fully randomized (non-periodic) microstructures produce high quality homogeneous light, are non-wavelength dependent, and eliminate moiré (color fringing) without chromatic aberration.