...that the Slinky toy was the result of a failed attempt by engineer Richard James to produce an antivibration device for ship instruments? His goal was to develop a spring that would instantaneously counterbalance the wave motion that rocks a ship at sea. Instead, he developed the Slinky.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7899285 | Leaky surface-plasmon mode directional coupler and polarization detection module for magneto-optical pickup head using the same A leaky plasmon mode directional coupler and a polarization detection module for a magneto-optical pickup head, which uses the leaky plasmon mode directional coupler, are provided. The leaky plasmon mode directional coupler is manufactured by integrating a planar wa... | 03/01/2011 |
| 7555180 | Optical branching component with low polarisation sensitivity and increased process tolerance An optical branching component particularly suitable for use as a tap device is described. The component has two optical waveguides coupled between two optical couplers which each include at least one MMI supporting at least two guided modes. There is an effective o... | 06/30/2009 |
| 7548672 | Fiber-based light source device The present invention provides a fiber-based light source device, which includes a plurality of first, second or third light-emitting devices for respectively emitting a plurality of first, second or third lights, a plurality of first, second or third directional co... | 06/16/2009 |
| 7444045 | Hybrid sphere-waveguide resonators Microresonators, such as a microsphere resonators and planar microresonators, are optically coupled to waveguides for input and output of light. It is important that the relative positions of the microresonator and the waveguide are maintained stable, while still ma... | 10/28/2008 |
| 7437037 | Optical module having gain member and partial reflection section waveguides formed on a substrate The present invention is directed to an optical module, which stabilizes an oscillation characteristic of a laser by means of a simple configuration. To this end, a gain member, a partial reflection section connected to the gain member, and an optical device section... | 10/14/2008 |
| 7415178 | Spiral waveguide slow wave resonator structure An optical microresonator includes microcylinder and spiral resonant waveguide formed on the microcylinder that optically couples light from an optical source waveguide to the microcylinder and slows light propagating along the microcylinder. A coupling element, for... | 08/19/2008 |
| 7415174 | Dual optical channel monitor assembly and associated methods of manufacture and use An optical channel monitor assembly for simultaneously measuring the optical power levels of multiple series of dense wavelength division multiplexed channels or the like traveling on separate optical fibers in an optical communications system includes an arrayed wa... | 08/19/2008 |
| 7400788 | Linearized optical modulator having a plurality of coupling functions Invention discloses an apparatus that provides linear optical modulation of light carrier signals by an electrical modulation signal. Linearized modulation is achieved through the selection of a spacing profile between two optical transmission waveguides. The spacin... | 07/15/2008 |
| 7389033 | Planar lightwave circuit type variable optical attenuator A planar lightwave circuit type variable optical attenuator with a small polarization dependent loss is provided. By setting the waveguide birefringence (absolute value) in first and second optical coupler sections equal to or greater than 3.5×10−4, th... | 06/17/2008 |
| 7376294 | Optoelectronic component with an adjustable optical property and method for producing the layer structure The invention relates to an optoelectronic component and a method for producing it, in particular a waveguide structure, featuring at least one irradiation-sensitive structure in a layer structure of the optoelectronic component, the refractive index of the irradiat... | 05/20/2008 |
| 7373058 | Apparatus and method for detecting optical radiation Methods and devices for low power optical detection and modulation in a slotted waveguide geometry filled with nonlinear electro-optic polymers are shown. Direct conversion of optical energy to electrical energy is enabled without external bias, via optical rectific... | 05/13/2008 |
| 7373039 | Low-ripple optical device A low-ripple optical device comprising an optical demultiplexer structure and an optical multiplexer structure cascaded together wherein one of the structures exhibits n passband maxima and the other device exhibits n+1 passband maxima. ... | 05/13/2008 |
| 7369726 | Optical communication between face-to-face semiconductor chips One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that communicates between a first semiconductor die and a second semiconductor die through optical signaling. During operation, the system converts an electrical signal into an optical signal using an electri... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7366385 | Tunable fiber amplifier and laser The present invention has a core and at least one cladding, where, by changing the temperature of the cladding, the material dispersion characteristic of the cladding is changed and a refractive index is varied to make fundamental-mode cutoff tunable as well; and th... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7362928 | Optical switch and gate apparatus and method Some exemplary embodiments of one version of the present invention provide an optical switch including: a splitting device having first, second, third and fourth terminals; a nonlinear element; an attenuator; and an optical loop associated with the third and fourth ... | 04/22/2008 |
| 7359598 | Surface plasmon optic devices and radiating surface plasmon sources for photolithography Disclosed is a surface plasmon optic device that has a periodic array of apertures in a dielectric substrate and a metal film formed on the dielectric substrate and emits light from metal-air interface. The surface plasmon optic device includes a surface plasmon gen... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7349616 | Fiber optic local convergence points for multiple dwelling units There are provided fiber optic local convergence points (“LCPs”) adapted for use with multiple dwelling units (“MDUs”) that facilitate relatively easy installation and/or optical connectivity to a relatively large number of subscribers. The LCP includes a ho... | 03/25/2008 |
| 7340124 | Optical switch using rare earth doped glass The present invention provides an optical switch including a loss element having a signal loss, and a rare earth doped gain element optically connected in series with the loss element. The rare earth doped gain element is operable to produce a signal gain. The signa... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7340116 | Optical switch, optical modulator and wavelength variable filter An optical switch, an optical modulator, and a wavelength variable filter each have a simple configuration, which requires only a low driving voltage, which is independent of polarization, and which can operate at high speed. An optical switch includes a 3-dB couple... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7336854 | Optical switch, optical modulator and wavelength variable filter An optical switch, an optical modulator, and a wavelength variable filter each have a simple configuration, which requires only a low driving voltage, which is independent of polarization, and which can operate at high speed. An optical switch includes a 3-dB couple... | 02/26/2008 |
| 7335875 | Optical branching unit, and method of manufacturing the same An optical branching unit according to the invention, has on a substrate, a light input part which inputs light, an optical branch which branches the light input to the light input part at a predetermined ratio, a light output part which guides the light branched by... | 02/26/2008 |
| 7333690 | Evanescent waveguide couplers A multi-port planar evanescent coupler having N inputs and M outputs, where both N and M are each no less than three, formed of combinations of at least one of at least one planar evanescent 2×2 coupler and at least one planar evanescent 3×3 coupler subunits, with... | 02/19/2008 |
| 7330619 | Laser and photodetector coupled by planar waveguides An optical apparatus comprises: a waveguide substrate; three planar optical waveguides formed on the substrate, each comprising a transmission core and cladding; a laser positioned to launch its optical output to propagate along the first waveguide; a photodetector ... | 02/12/2008 |
| 7327915 | Integrated optical structure sensitive to the energy radiated into the cladding of a planar lightwave circuit The described integrated planar optical structure comprises a principal waveguide having a core and a cladding that define a first light path ad means sensitive to the light radiated into the cladding comprising at least one secondary waveguide having a core and a c... | 02/05/2008 |
| 7324681 | Apparatus and method for detecting surface defects on a workpiece such as a rolled/drawn metal bar The present invention is directed to solving the problems associated with the detection of surface defects on metal bars as well as the problems associated with applying metal flat inspection systems to metal bars for non-destructive surface defects detection. A spe... | 01/29/2008 |
| 7319820 | Method of manufacturing optical communication system A position of a first module (12a) with respect to an optical fiber (11) is determined in accordance with a receiving efficiency at the first module (12a) with respect to light emitted from the optical fiber (11). Power of l... | 01/15/2008 |
| 7315676 | Optical modulator, optical waveguide device and acousto-optic tunable filter apparatus The invention provides an optical modulator wherein appearance of radiation mode light can be suppressed to improve performances as a device. The optical modulator includes a multiplexing waveguide which in turn includes two input waveguides to which propagation lig... | 01/01/2008 |
| 7308173 | Optical fiber coupler with low loss and high coupling coefficient and method of fabrication thereof An optical fiber coupler capable of providing a low loss, high coupling coefficient interface between conventional optical fibers and optical waveguide devices is provided. The novel coupler, which may be polarization maintaining, if a polarization maintaining prefo... | 12/11/2007 |
| 7302137 | Optical coupler apparatus and method A planar lightwave circuit coupler including first and second waveguides with curved coupling portions having radii of curvature selected such that the coupler has a splitting ratio that is substantially wavelength and polarization insensitive. ... | 11/27/2007 |
| 7302140 | Optical switch and matrix optical switch The invention provides an optical switch including a substrate which has conductivity or semiconductivity, an optical waveguide layer which is formed on the substrate, and a control electrode which is formed on the optical waveguide layer. The optical waveguide laye... | 11/27/2007 |
| 7295744 | Frequency-selective light coupler-decoupler device A frequency-selective light coupler-decoupler device comprising a component of photonic crystal structure in which there is formed a waveguide having at least one longitudinal edge with a small number of rows of periodic elements of the photonic crystal so as to for... | 11/13/2007 |
| 7292746 | All-optical flip-flop The present invention provides a set-reset flip-flop operating in an all-optical manner. In this invention, a set pulse is inputted from the setting port. In doing so, only oscillation in set mode is generated at the multi-mode interference portion in a waveguide. A... | 11/06/2007 |
| 7289703 | Optical modulator, optical waveguide device and acousto-optic tunable filter apparatus The invention provides an optical modulator wherein appearance of radiation mode light can be suppressed to improve performances as a device. The optical modulator includes a multiplexing waveguide which in turn includes two input waveguides to which propagation lig... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7280760 | Upgradeable optical add/drop multiplexer An OADM includes optical input and output; first and second bandpass filters with a first pass band, optically coupled to the optical input and output, respectively; third and fourth bandpass filters with a second pass band, optically coupled to reflection ports of ... | 10/09/2007 |
| 7280713 | Optical modulator, optical waveguide device and acousto-optic tunable filter apparatus The invention provides an optical modulator wherein appearance of radiation mode light can be suppressed to improve performances as a device. The optical modulator includes a multiplexing waveguide which in turn includes two input waveguides to which propagation lig... | 10/09/2007 |
| 7269310 | Optical connector, optical coupling method and optical element An optical connector used for inputting light to an optical element from an external optical system or outputting light from an optical element to an external optical system includes a photonic crystal having a periodic refractive index structure, and an optical wav... | 09/11/2007 |
| 7260295 | Optical waveguide and optical transmitting/receiving module An optical transmitting and receiving module for an optical waveguide performs both a transmitting operation and a receiving operation simultaneously. The linear first waveguide is provided such that one side is coupled to an optical fiber and the other side is coup... | 08/21/2007 |
| 7257296 | Optical waveguide element with directional coupler An optical waveguide element having a directional coupler is disclosed. The element includes a first and a second waveguide located adjacent to each other at a predetermined portion for mode coupling, a first dummy waveguide extending from an one end of the second w... | 08/14/2007 |
| 7254290 | Enhanced waveguide metrology gauge collimator A free-space optically-coupled collimator for the efficient bidirectional transmission of an optical metrology beam emanating from a waveguide aperture of a waveguide optical transmission element, all contained in an isothermal nested enclosure, with the waveguide e... | 08/07/2007 |
| 7254299 | High-tolerance broadband-optical switch in planar lightwave circuits Broadband optical switches based on adiabatic couplers having a pair of asymmetric waveguides with variable curvature sections include in a 2×2 configuration based on a Mach-Zehnder interferometer two such adiabatic couplers, and in a 1×2 or 2×1 configuration an ... | 08/07/2007 |