High contrast grating light valve type device
First Claim
1. A light modulator comprising a diffraction region comprising a first set of ribbons each with a reflective surface area Ea and second set of ribbons each with a reflective surface area Eb, wherein the first set and second set of ribbons are alternating and spaced over a reference surface with a reflective surface regions having reflective surface areas Es between each alternating ribbon of the first set and second set and wherein Ea is approximately equal to the sum of Eb and Es, Eb is greater than or equal to Es and Es is not equal to zero.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A grating light valve has with a plurality of spaced reflective ribbons are spatially arranged over a substrate with reflective surfaces. The grating light valve is configured to optimized the conditions for constructive and destructive interference with an incident light source having a wavelength λ. The grating light valve preferably has a set of movable active ribbons alternating between the set of stationary bias ribbons. The active ribbons and the bias ribbons are spatially separated over the substrate surface such that reflective regions of the substrate surface correspond to the spaces between the ribbons. The ribbons and reflective regions of the substrate optically and geometrically optimized for to generate the conditions for constrictive and destructive interference with the incident light source. Accordingly, ribbons of the active ribbons are configured with reflective cross sections that are is approximately equal to the sum of the diffraction cross sections of the bias ribbons and the reflective regions of the substrate. In operation, active ribbons are moved by a multiple of λ/4 to switch between the conditions for constructive and destructive interference.
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Citations
10 Claims
- 1. A light modulator comprising a diffraction region comprising a first set of ribbons each with a reflective surface area Ea and second set of ribbons each with a reflective surface area Eb, wherein the first set and second set of ribbons are alternating and spaced over a reference surface with a reflective surface regions having reflective surface areas Es between each alternating ribbon of the first set and second set and wherein Ea is approximately equal to the sum of Eb and Es, Eb is greater than or equal to Es and Es is not equal to zero.
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8. A method of modulating light with a wavelength λ
- a comprising the steps of;
a. suspending a first set of reflective ribbons by a first distance corresponding to a multiple of λ
/2 over a reference surface with reflective regions, wherein each ribbon of the first set has a first reflective cross section;
b. suspending a second set reflective ribbons by a second distance corresponding to a multiple λ
/2 over the reference surface, wherein each ribbon of the second set has a second reflective cross section and wherein the first set and the second set of ribbons are spatially arranged such that the ribbon of the first set and the second set are alternating and spaced with reflective regions of the reference surface aligned with the spaces between the ribbon of the first set and the second set of ribbons, wherein the first reflective cross section is approximately equal to the sum of the second reflective cross section and the reflective region of the reference surface;
c. shining a light an incident light source with a wavelength λ
on the reflective surfaces of the first set of ribbons and the second set of ribbons; and
d. moving the first set of reflective ribbons relative to the second set of reflective ribbons by a multiple of distance λ
/4. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10)
- a comprising the steps of;
Specification