US Patent 11988863 Multibeam backlight, multiview display, and method having shaped-edge multibeam elements

A multibeam backlight and multiview display employ a multibeam element having a shaped edge with a shape configured to disperse spurious diffraction components. The multibeam backlight includes a light guide configured to guide light in a propagation direction and a plurality of multibeam elements spaced apart from one another across the light guide, the multibeam element plurality being configured to scatter out the guided light as emitted light. A multibeam element of the multibeam element plurality includes the shaped edge oriented orthogonal to the propagation direction. The shape of the shaped edge is configured to disperse spurious diffraction components in the emitted light associated with an interaction between the guided light and the multibeam element. The multiview display includes a light valve array configured to modulate the emitted light as a multiview image having a plurality of views in a similar plurality of different view directions.