Display panel with electrically-controlled waveguide-routing
First Claim
1. An optical beam directing element comprising:
- a solid material for conveying optical energy;
at least a first electrically-conductive material forming a first electrode, said first electrode confronting said solid material;
a pixel waveguide segment traversing said solid material along a plane of said solid material;
a plurality of output waveguide segments traversing said solid material along said plane, at least one of said output waveguide segments being transverse to said pixel waveguide segment in a first intersection region;
an active optical energy redirector being disposed adjacent said first intersection region, said active optical energy redirector to reflect optical energy from said pixel waveguide segment into said output waveguide segments upon selective application of an electrical field from said first electrode; and
optical reflector means disposed at selected locations on said plane in line with said output waveguide segments for projecting optical energy out of said plane.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A flat panel display is based on a new switching technology for routing laser light among a set of optical waveguides and coupling that light toward the viewer. The switching technology is based on poled electro-optical structures. The display technology is versatile enough to cover application areas spanning the range from miniature high resolution computer displays to large screen displays for high definition television formats. The invention combines the high brightness and power efficiency inherent in visible semiconductor diode laser sources with a new waveguide electro-optical switching technology to form a dense two-dimensional addressable array of high brightness light emissive pixels.
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Citations
52 Claims
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1. An optical beam directing element comprising:
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a solid material for conveying optical energy; at least a first electrically-conductive material forming a first electrode, said first electrode confronting said solid material; a pixel waveguide segment traversing said solid material along a plane of said solid material; a plurality of output waveguide segments traversing said solid material along said plane, at least one of said output waveguide segments being transverse to said pixel waveguide segment in a first intersection region; an active optical energy redirector being disposed adjacent said first intersection region, said active optical energy redirector to reflect optical energy from said pixel waveguide segment into said output waveguide segments upon selective application of an electrical field from said first electrode; and optical reflector means disposed at selected locations on said plane in line with said output waveguide segments for projecting optical energy out of said plane. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. An optical beam routing structure comprising:
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a solid material for conveying optical energy; a distribution waveguide segment traversing said solid material along a plane of said solid material; at least one pixel waveguide segment traversing said solid material along a plane of said solid material and each abutting said distribution waveguide segment at an intersection region; at least one passive optical energy router being disposed at said intersection region, said passive optical energy router to reflect a portion of said optical energy from said distribution waveguide segment into said pixel waveguide segment; and an optical modulator for each said at least one pixel waveguide segment for individually modulating said portion of said optical energy. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31)
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32. A display device comprising:
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a solid material for conveying optical energy; at least one pixel waveguide segment traversing said solid material along a plane of said solid material; a plurality of output waveguide segments traversing said solid material along said plane, said output waveguide segments abutting said at least one pixel waveguide segment at a plurality of intersections and coupled to receive optical energy from said at least one pixel waveguide segment; optical reflector means disposed at selected locations on said plane in line with said output waveguide segments. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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39. A display device comprising:
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a solid material for conveying optical energy; at least a first electrically-conductive material forming a first electrode, said first electrode confronting said solid material; at least one pixel waveguide segment traversing said solid material along a plane of said solid material; a plurality of output waveguide segments traversing said solid material along said plane, said output waveguide segments abutting said pixel waveguide segment at a plurality of intersections; a plurality of electrically-controlled optical redirectors, each optical redirector being disposed transverse of one of said intersections, said optical redirectors being capable of reflecting optical energy from said pixel waveguide segment into said output waveguide segments; and phosphor target means disposed at selected pixel locations on said plane in line with said output waveguide segments for reradiating optical energy out of said plane in response to optical energy excitation. - View Dependent Claims (40)
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41. A display device including:
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a solid material for conveying optical energy; at least a first electrically-conductive material forming a first electrode, said first electrode confronting said solid material; an optical frequency source means including an optical exciter of a first frequency and a frequency doubler means coupled to be excited by said optical exciter; at least one pixel waveguide segment traversing said solid material along a plane of said solid dielectric material; a plurality of output waveguide segments traversing said solid material along said plane, said output waveguide segments abutting said pixel waveguide segment at a plurality of intersections; and a plurality of electrically-controlled optical redirectors, each optical redirector being disposed transverse of one of said intersections, said optical redirectors to reflect optical energy from said pixel waveguide segment into said output waveguide segments. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44)
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45. A device for distributing optical energy within a volume comprising:
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optical energy path means for transporting optical energy; a plurality of optical coupling regions for said optical energy path means arranged in a pattern in said volume; and energy field controllable optical coupling elements coupled to said optical energy path means at said optical coupling regions for controllably distributing said optical energy in said volume.
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46. A method for distributing optical energy within a volume comprising:
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transporting optical energy along a plurality of optical energy paths within said volume; and controllably distributing said optical energy in said volume upon selective application of energy fields at a plurality of optical coupling regions of said optical energy paths. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49)
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50. An optical beam directing element comprising:
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a solid material for conveying optical energy; at least a first electrically-conductive material forming a first electrode, said first electrode confronting said solid material; a pixel waveguide segment traversing said solid material along a plane of said solid material; a plurality of output optical axes traversing said solid material along said plane, at least one of said output optical axes being transverse to said pixel waveguide segment in a first intersection region; an active optical energy redirector being disposed adjacent said first intersection region, said active optical energy redirector to reflect optical energy from said pixel waveguide segment into said output optical axes upon selective application of an electrical field from said first electrode; and optical reflector means disposed at selected locations on said plane in line with said output optical axes for projecting optical energy out of said plane.
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51. A display device comprising:
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a solid material for conveying optical energy; at least a first electrically-conductive material forming a first electrode, said first electrode confronting said solid material; at least one pixel waveguide segment traversing said solid material along a plane of said solid material; a plurality of output optical axes traversing said solid material along said plane, said output optical axes abutting said pixel waveguide segment at a plurality of intersections; a plurality of electrically-controlled optical redirectors, each optical redirector being disposed transverse of one of said intersections, said optical redirectors being capable of reflecting optical energy from said pixel waveguide segment into said output optical axes; and phosphor target means disposed at selected pixel locations on said plane in line with said output optical axes for reradiating optical energy out of said plane in response to optical energy excitation.
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52. A display device including:
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a solid material for conveying optical energy; at least a first electrically-conductive material forming a first electrode, said first electrode confronting said solid material; an optical frequency source means including an optical exciter of a first frequency and a frequency doubler means coupled to be excited by said optical exciter; at least one pixel waveguide segment traversing said solid material along a plane of said solid dielectric material; a plurality of output optical axes traversing said solid material along said plane, said output optical axes abutting said pixel waveguide segment at a plurality of intersections; and a plurality of electrically-controlled optical redirectors, each optical redirector being disposed transverse of one of said intersections, said optical redirectors to reflect optical energy from said pixel waveguide segment into said output optical axes.
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Specification