LCD Backlight design - Concept / theory on patterns found on light guides (lightpipe)?

Question

Hi,

Need an indepth advise for my school project. I am studying the design of backlight - not the electronics involved but the physical part e.g the glass panel, the diffusing sheet, the light guide, etc.

I understand the the light guide (lightpipe) can have micro patterns manufactured on it to allow for uniform backlight. Apart from using ray tracing software, is there a simple concept or rule to follow to achieve the design required? In particular, the light source would be a single, small, flexible-printed-circuit mounted LED, for use in illuminating a small LCD in MP3 players (edge lit system).

After many hours of research, this is perhaps the single missing link to tie all theories together. Hope someone can give me an insight in this.

Thanks. :)

Answer 1

This site looks comprehensive enough to me.....
http://www.opticalres.com/white%20papers/ToolsforBacklights.pdf#search=%22backlight%20design%22