×

Electro-optical device

  • US 4,790,635 A
  • Filed: 04/24/1987
  • Issued: 12/13/1988
  • Est. Priority Date: 04/25/1986
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
Patent Images

1. In an electro-optical device comprising a Fabry-Perot etalon having a central region of electro-optic material between two mirrors of multilayer construction, and electrical biasing means, connected to the mirrors, for applying a variable bias to the mirrors to vary the refractive index of the central region and thereby the etalon fringe maximum wavelength, the improvement wherein:

  • (1) the central region and the mirrors are a heterostructure of successively deposited layers of semiconductor materials,(2) the mirrors are doped to have mutually opposite conductivity type and the central region has lower doping than the mirrors to provide a PIN diode structure in which bias voltage applied by the biasing means appears predominantly across the central region,(3) the etalon has an interference fringe maximum in the vicinity of a central region optical absorption wavelength associated with electric field dependent refractive index, and(4) the biasing means is arranged to reverse bias the PIN diode structure.

View all claims
  • 2 Assignments
Timeline View
Assignment View
    ×
    ×