HIGH-EFFICIENCY PRISM LIGHT GUIDES WITH CONFOCAL PARABOLIC CROSS-SECTIONS

Prism light guides are often used for transporting and distributing Li ght. Typically such guides are tubular structures Lined with a flexibl e prismatic sheet material that confines light by means of total inter nal reflection. Inasmuch as the prismatic material is produced as a fl at sheet, such guides require at least one seam in formation of the tu bular structure, and the optical imperfection associated with seams is oft;en a dominant loss mechanism. We present a new configuration for the cross-sectional shape of a prism Light guide that substantially re duces the loss caused by such seams. (C) 1998 Optical Society of Ameri ca.