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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7369327 | Variable optical-property element and optical apparatus including the same A variable optical-property element includes a liquid crystal the pitch of twist is less than 60 times the wavelength of light used, so that a spatially uneven electric or magnetic field or temperature is applied to the liquid crystal to thereby form an index distri... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7310180 | Dielectric spacer for enhanced squeeze-film damping of movable members of MEMS devices In one embodiment, a capacitive micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) device includes a dielectric spacer between a bottom electrode and a movable member. The movable member may serve as a top electrode. A gap separates the top electrode from the dielectric spacer... | 12/18/2007 |
| 7289209 | Programmable spectral imaging system An imaging system having a programmable spectral transmission function, that includes an input image plane for passing input imaging light into the imaging system; a dispersive optical system for separating the input imaging light into its corresponding spectral com... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7286764 | Reconfigurable modulator-based optical add-and-drop multiplexer An optical add and drop multiplexer system comprising a first module for providing a first signal; a second module for providing a second signal; and a modulator for receiving a channel of the first signal at a first location, the first location configured to actuat... | 10/23/2007 |
| 7274500 | Display system incorporating trilinear electromechanical grating device A display system comprises a light modulator having at least three linear arrays of light modulating devices on a common substrate, at least one light source producing at least three colors of light for illuminating the at least three linear arrays, a lens for creat... | 09/25/2007 |
| 7262898 | Apparatus for reducing drops in a transmission spectrum due to inter-pixel gaps The invention includes an apparatus for modulating an optical signal. The apparatus includes a modulating mechanism comprising a plurality of modulating component arrays, each modulating component array comprising a plurality of modulating components, wherein adjace... | 08/28/2007 |
| 7256927 | Double-electret mems actuator An actuator (100) taking advantage of ponderomotive forces to enhance its electromechanical performance as a function of input energy. An actuator (100) may include a first conductive layer (102) residing on a first electret layer (101). ... | 08/14/2007 |
| 7249853 | Unpolished optical element with periodic surface roughness An optical sub-system has an optical element having a curved surface featured with a plurality of recurring surface tooling marks. The depth of any surface tooling mark is less than 0.2 wavelengths, whereby light is diffracted on the curved surface. A spatial filter... | 07/31/2007 |
| 7177081 | High contrast grating light valve type device 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... | 02/13/2007 |
| 7166486 | Optical modulator, optical modulator manufacturing method, light information processing apparatus including optical modulator, image formation apparatus including optical modulator, and image projection and display apparatus including optical modulator A center beam which is formed out of a thin film constituted to be combined with a light reflection film provided on one surface of the center beam, which has both ends fixed and which is deformed by an electronic force; a substrate electrode which is opposed to the... | 01/23/2007 |
| 7148910 | High-speed pulse width modulation system and method for linear array spatial light modulators A high speed pulse width modulation system for driving a linear array spatial light modulator, including: a pixel-serial data source that provides at least one or more pixel-serial input data streams; a fundamental system clock signal; phase-shifted versions of the ... | 12/12/2006 |
| 7119936 | Speckle reduction for display system with electromechanical grating A display system (10) with reduced speckle has a light source (70) providing an illumination beam and a linear light modulator (85) having at least one linear array of light modulating devices for forming a modulated beam. The modulated beam has... | 10/10/2006 |
| 7113320 | GLV based fiber optic transmitter A communications transmitter is disclosed that utilizes a grating light valve (GLV) to impose information on an optical signal. The communications transmitter further includes at least one laser light source, a frequency dispersing device, an electrostatic modulator... | 09/26/2006 |
| 7102808 | MEMS device and methods for manufacturing thereof, light modulation device, GLV device and methods for manufacturing thereof, and laser display The present invention provides a MEMS device and methods for manufacturing thereof, in which planarizing the surface of a beam and improving performance of the MEMS device are aimed. In addition, the present invention provides a light modulation device and a GLV dev... | 09/05/2006 |
| 7098871 | Optical scanning system with correction A scanning system device has a predetermined aberration as it scans or switches light along selected optical paths. A deformable membrane receives the light and introduces an inverse “aberration” that offsets that of the scanning system. In one embodiment the sc... | 08/29/2006 |
| 7092142 | Air gap autogenesis method A circuit for implementing a registration-free, contiguous conductive plane. A circuit may include a plurality of conductive structures in a first plane. The circuit may further include a contiguous conductive equipotential surface in a second plane parallel to the ... | 08/15/2006 |
| 7075700 | Mirror actuator position sensor systems and methods Systems and methods are disclosed herein to provide position information, such as for example via a mirror actuator position sensor. For example, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a mirror actuator is disclosed which utilizes its own capacit... | 07/11/2006 |
| 7068372 | MEMS interferometer-based reconfigurable optical add-and-drop multiplexor The interferometer comprises a beam splitter, a mirror and a phase modulator. The beam splitter splits a signal into a first portion and a second portion. The mirror reflects the first portion. The first portion includes an optical path length, which is fixed. The p... | 06/27/2006 |
| 7064883 | Two dimensional spatial light modulator A spatial light modulator is provided having a two-dimensional (2D), close-packed MEMS (Micro-Electromechanical System) array of diffractive pixels. Each pixel includes a number of diffractive elements or diffractors. Each diffractor includes a tent member disposed ... | 06/20/2006 |
| 7057790 | Field sequential color efficiency A method and system for generating colors efficiently. In one embodiment, a start signal for a primary color subcycle may be received. A primary light source used to drive the primary color may be activated if there is data in the primary color's buffer. The primary... | 06/06/2006 |
| 7057819 | High contrast tilting ribbon blazed grating The light modulator includes elongated elements and a support structure coupled to the elongated elements. Each element includes one or more lengthwise slits within an active optical area, and a light reflective planar surface with the light reflective planar surfac... | 06/06/2006 |
| 7054515 | Diffractive light modulator-based dynamic equalizer with integrated spectral monitor An integrated device of the present invention comprises free-space optics, a bi-directional multiplexor/de-multiplexor, a diffractive light modulator, a beam splitter, an optical performance monitor, and a controller. The free-space optics collimate, transform and i... | 05/30/2006 |
| 7050081 | Laser irradiation device and image recorder A laser source emits a laser beam having a peak wavelength within the range from 800 nm to 820 nm. The laser beam emitted from the source passes through an illumination lens, and then impinges on a Grating Light Valve™. The light valve splits the laser beam into a... | 05/23/2006 |
| 7049164 | Microelectronic mechanical system and methods The current invention provides for encapsulated release structures, intermediates thereof and methods for their fabrication. The multi-layer structure has a capping layer, that preferably comprises silicon oxide and/or silicon nitride, and which is formed over an et... | 05/23/2006 |
| 7046446 | Speckle reduction for display system with electromechanical grating A method for displaying an image including: forming at least three light beams by diffraction at a single linear light modulator, wherein the at least three light beams have substantially equal intensity and are substantially the same color; projecting the at least ... | 05/16/2006 |
| 7042611 | Pre-deflected bias ribbons A modulator for and a method of modulating an incident beam of light including means for supporting a plurality of active elements and a plurality of bias elements, each active and bias element including a light reflective planar surface with the light reflective pl... | 05/09/2006 |
| 7042618 | Enhancements to optical flat panel displays A circuit for implementing a registration-free, contiguous conductive plane. A circuit may include a plurality of conductive structures in a first plane. The circuit may further include a contiguous conductive equipotential surface in a second plane parallel to the ... | 05/09/2006 |
| 7042624 | Non-uniform light valve A light valve for use in an imaging head for imaging a regular pattern with relatively large imaged areas in a pre-determined orientation has low resolution channels and high resolution channels corresponding to the pattern to be imaged. ... | 05/09/2006 |
| 7034981 | Optical modulator, display device and manufacturing method for same An optical modulator is provided which can be manufactured by means of a simple process, and a display device, and a method of manufacturing same. The optical modulator comprises a first substrate having a movable reflective film that oscillates in accordance with t... | 04/25/2006 |
| 7027202 | Silicon substrate as a light modulator sacrificial layer An optical MEM device is fabricated with a patterned device layer formed on a silicon wafer. Preferably, the patterned device layer is patterned with plurality of ribbons and/or access trenches. The central portion of the ribbon is released from the silicon wafer us... | 04/11/2006 |
| 7002739 | Device for generating line-shaped light beam and laser microscope A laser microscope is provided, which is low in manufacturing costs and compact in structure. A laser beam emitted from a semiconductor laser is converted into a rectilinear light beam which has divergence in one direction by use of a micromirror device. The micromi... | 02/21/2006 |
| 6967986 | Light modulation apparatus using a VCSEL array with an electromechanical grating device An apparatus for providing modulated light, that includes: a VCSEL array for generating an illumination beam from a plurality of emissive elements within the VCSEL array; a linear array of electromechanical grating devices for modulating the illumination beam to pro... | 11/22/2005 |
| 6967758 | System and method for sub-pixel electronic alignment In one embodiment, a delay circuit is configured to delay pixel information from an image source, such as a frame buffer. The delay circuit may be configured to delay the pixel information by an amount of time that would move a pixel projected on a surface by a dist... | 11/22/2005 |
| 6956878 | Method and apparatus for reducing laser speckle using polarization averaging A method and apparatus for reducing speckle uses polarization averaging. A polarizing beam splitter divides a first polarized laser output into a second polarized laser output and a third polarized laser output. A plurality of mirrors creates an optical path differe... | 10/18/2005 |
| 6956995 | Optical communication arrangement An arrangement for optical communication comprises an optical coupler, an opto-electronic board, and an optical fiber. The optical fiber comprises a first refraction surface, a second refraction surface, and an internal reflector. The first refraction surface has a ... | 10/18/2005 |
| 6947613 | Wavelength selective switch and equalizer A device comprising a light modulator including a plurality of elements wherein each element is selectively operable such that the plurality of elements are dynamically configurable to combine selected ones of a plurality of grating periods such that selected portio... | 09/20/2005 |
| 6947195 | OPTICAL MODULATOR, OPTICAL MODULATOR MANUFACTURING METHOD, LIGHT INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS INCLUDING OPTICAL MODULATOR, IMAGE FORMATION APPARATUS INCLUDING OPTICAL MODULATOR, AND IMAGE PROJECTION AND DISPLAY APPARATUS INCLUDING OPTICAL MODULATOR A center beam which is formed out of a thin film constituted to be combined with a light reflection film provided on one surface of the center beam, which has both ends fixed and which is deformed by an electronic force; a substrate electrode which is opposed to the... | 09/20/2005 |
| 6942344 | Autostereoscopic display for multiple viewers An apparatus for displaying a stereoscopic virtual image to a first viewer (12a) and to a second viewer (12b), where the stereoscopic virtual image is imaged to each viewer at a left viewing pupil (14l) and a right viewing p... | 09/13/2005 |
| 6934070 | Chirped optical MEM device A light modulator comprises a series of ribbons divided by a series of gaps. Sequences of consecutive ribbons and gaps are grouped together to form a plurality of pixels that are configured to process a respective plurality of wavelengths. The spacing from center-li... | 08/23/2005 |
| 6928207 | Apparatus for selectively blocking WDM channels An apparatus for selective blocking WDM channels comprises a light modulator, a diffraction grating, and a transform lens. The light modulator comprises an array of pixels. Each pixel of the light modulator is selectively operable to direct light into a first mode a... | 08/09/2005 |
