Electro-optic device allowing wavelength tuning
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An apparatus comprising:
- a first substrate having a surface relief pattern on a face;
a second substrate having a surface relief pattern on a face, the first and second substrate disposed to form a resonant cavity; and
a material disposed in the cavity having a selected index of refraction.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Surface textures embossed in a substrate such as plastic include surface depressions or cones having equally-spaced, reflective terraced steps to support coherent reflections of incident light. A desired color or bandwidth of coherent reflected light off the terraced steps is produced by adjusting the index of refraction of a material in communication with the terraced steps of the substrate. Preferably, the index of refraction of each zone of terraced steps is controlled based on an applied electric field. Accordingly, light reflected from a plurality of controlled zones can be used to produce an image for an observer.
60 Citations
43 Claims
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1. An apparatus comprising:
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a first substrate having a surface relief pattern on a face;
a second substrate having a surface relief pattern on a face, the first and second substrate disposed to form a resonant cavity; and
a material disposed in the cavity having a selected index of refraction. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method comprising the steps of:
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disposing a first substrate having a surface relief pattern on a face and a second substrate having a surface relief pattern on a face to form a resonant cavity; and
selecting an index of refraction of a material disposed between the first and second substrate for filtering electromagnetic waves incident on the first substrate. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
reflecting a particular wavelength of light incident to the cavity back in a direction from which it was originally transmitted based on the selected index of refraction of the material between the first and second substrates.
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9. A method as in claim 7 further comprising the step of:
disposing a reflective layer on the a surface relief pattern of at least one substrate.
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10. A method as in claim 7, wherein an index of refraction of the material of the cavity is selected so that a range of wavelengths do not pass through a combination of the first and second substrate.
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11. A method as in claim 7, wherein electromagnetic waves that are not reflected off the terraced steps pass through both the first and second substrates.
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12. A method as in claim 8 further comprising the step of:
disposing the faces of the substrates having the terraced steps towards each other to form the cavity.
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13. An apparatus for tuning electromagnetic waves, the apparatus comprising:
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a first substrate having a first surface relief pattern on a face;
a second substrate having a second surface relief pattern on a face, the first and second surface relief patterns of the first and second substrate disposed to face each other to form a resonant cavity; and
a material disposed between the first and second substrate having a variable index of refraction. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method for tuning electromagnetic waves comprising:
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providing a first substrate having a first surface relief pattern on a face and a second substrate having a second surface relief pattern on a face, the surface relief patterns of the first and second substrate disposed adjacent each other to form a resonant cavity; and
adjusting an index of refraction of a material disposed between the first and second substrate. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
reflecting a band of wavelengths based on an index of refraction of the material between the first and second substrate.
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23. A method as in claim 21, wherein the index of refraction of the material is controlled by an applied electric field.
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24. A method as in claim 21, wherein the material is a liquid crystal.
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25. A method as in claim 23, wherein the applied electric field is adjusted so that a selected wavelength does not pass through the first and second substrate.
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26. An apparatus as described in claim 21, wherein wavelengths of incident electromagnetic waves are adjusted based on an index of refraction of the material and reflected wavelengths of light corresponding to a step spacing of terraced steps disposed on the first and second surface relief patterns add coherently.
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27. An apparatus as described in claim 26, wherein electromagnetic waves that are not reflected off the terraced steps pass through the first and second substrate.
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28. An apparatus as described in claim 21 for multiplexing wavelengths, wherein the index of refraction of the material is tuned to redirect certain bandwidths of incident electromagnetic waves to an optical fiber.
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29. An apparatus for tuning electromagnetic waves, the apparatus comprising:
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a first transparent substrate having a surface relief pattern on a face;
a second transparent substrate having a surface relief pattern on a face, the surface relief patterns of the first and second substrate disposed to face each other forming a resonant cavity; and
a liquid crystal material disposed between the first and second substrate having a variable index of refraction, an index of refraction of the liquid crystal material being controlled by an applied electric field for selecting which wavelengths of incident light are transmitted through the first and second substrate.
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30. An apparatus comprising:
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a substrate having terraced steps on its face; and
a non-absorbing dielectric coating of a substantially uniform thickness, having an index of refraction, adhered to the terraced steps of the substrate, a combination of the coating and terraced steps on the substrate supporting coherent reflections of an electromagnetic wavelength. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A method comprising the steps of:
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providing a substrate having terraced steps on its face; and
depositing a non-absorbing dielectric coating having an index of refraction to the terraced steps of the substrate, the coating being of a substantially uniform thickness, a combination of the coating and terraced steps on the substrate supporting constructive reflections of an electromagnetic wavelength. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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42. An apparatus comprising:
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a substrate having terraced steps on its face;
a non-absorbing dielectric coating, having an index of refraction, adhered to the terraced steps of the substrate so that a combination of the coating and terraced steps on the substrate result in a reflection of a particular electromagnetic wavelength, the dielectric coating having an index of refraction greater than 2.
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43. A method comprising:
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providing a substrate having terraced steps on its face;
depositing a non-absorbing dielectric coating having an index of refraction to the terraced steps of the substrate so that a combination of the coating and terraced steps on the substrate result in a reflection of a particular electromagnetic wavelength, the dielectric coating having an index of refraction greater than 2.
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Specification