Other

The Boeing Company

Rockwell International Corporation

US Government As Represented by the Secretary of the Army

Rockwell Technologies, Inc.

Manouchehr E Motamedi

Ali E Dabiri

Mohsen Khoshnevisan

Ratnakar R Neurgaonkar

Ian C McMichael

Jeffrey G Nelson

Sangtae Park

Angus P Andrews

Jeffrey A Moranski

Dawn S Garcia-Nunez

Daniel J Jinar

The primary objective of the present method and apparatus is to provide a transportable diagnosis system for a reliable method to examine the conditions of a human eye lens. The method provides precise and safe technique for the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) which is not involved brain surgery or biopsy. The detection of deposited amyloid plaque in the eyes of the patient has been discovered to be a possible diagnosis solution. The disclosed method uses Terahertz waves in both time and frequency domains instead of laser for scanning the eye of the AD patient to precisely image the amyloid layer non-evasively in real time and to map the deposited plaque with high resolution which can easily distinguish the abnormality of an AD patient with the comparison of the patient eye lens test to the available signature of a normal person and the signature of a person with common age-related cataracts.

Method and apparatus for early diagnosis of Alzheimer's using non-invasive eye tomography by Teraherts

The primary objective of the present method and apparatus is to provide a portable and new diagnosis system for quickly and reliably examining tissue conditions. The method uses the most advance miniaturized micro-opto-electro-mechanical systems (MOEMS) for generating a rapid variable optical delay line capable of generating wideband terahertz pulses. The method detects and analyzes cancerous tissues by comparing a plurality of spectrum resolved images of suspected tissue without applying harmful agents into the tissue to facilitate interaction with illumination sources. The method employs non-evasive, real time terahertz imaging systems and techniques to diagnose tissue for detecting the presence of cancer. A map showing, which tissue is healthy and which is cancerous can aid in the accurate removal of cancerous tissue.

Method for non-invasive cancerous tissue diagnosis and tomography using terahertz imaging

The objective of the present method and apparatus is to provide a portable diagnosis system for a quick and reliable method to examine the conditions of a human eye-lens. The method provides precise and safe technique for the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) which is not involved brain surgery or biopsy. The detection of deposited layers of amyloid plaque in the eyes of the patient has been discovered to be a possible diagnosis solution. The disclosed method uses terahertz waves instead of laser for scanning the eye of the AD patient to precisely image the amyloid layer non-evasively in real time and to map the deposited plaque with high resolution which can easily distinguish the abnormality of an AD patient with the comparison of the patient eye-lens test to the available signature of a normal person and the signature of a person with common age-related cataracts.

Method and apparatus for early diagnosis of Alzheimer's using non-invasive eye tomography by Terahertz

The disclosed method measures the distance between two arbitrary points of interest from the user position by determining the range and angle between the two points. To measure the angle between the two points, a first method uses a micro-opto-electro-mechanical scanner to form a scan line between the two points of interest. A scan angle is determined based on the applied AC voltage needed to cause the endpoints of the scan line to coincide with the points of interest. The second method, an image-processing method, is applied to determine the angles between the points of interest. A Microprocessor uses captured images including the points of interest to determine the angle between the points. In both methods, the Microprocessor calculates the distance between the two points of interest by using the determined angle, together with the measured ranges and sends the calculated distance to a display.

Remote distance-measurement between any two arbitrary points using laser assisted optics

Method and apparatus for early diagnosis of Alzheimer's using non-invasive eye tomography by terahertz

A method of wave propagation from 100&#x2013;10000 GHz. The currently disclosed method and apparatus adapts micro-opto-electro-mechanical systems (MOEMS) technologies and processes to construct Kinoform optical components from microwave to terahertz range. The method uses induced coupled plasma (ICP) and gray scale processes for upper terahertz band; LIGA-based high aspect ratio (HAR) and gray scale processes are for the mid band; and computer numerical control (CNC) for lower band. In all cases, the thickness of any processed components is about the respective wavelength and system efficiency is about 95%. A Kinoform lens element is designed at 5000 GHz. However, the method is applicable for the entire terahertz band.

Efficient wave propagation for terahertz imaging and sensing

Electromagnetic waves in wide frequency ranges up to photonics have been used for applications to time-domain imaging (TDI). Realistic time domain imaging requires a rapid optical delay line on the order of 100 ps with sampling rate at least 100 Hz. Present available optical time delay systems suffer either from low sampling rate or low time delay length, deviating from ideal requirements. The purpose of this invention is to introduce a miniature and rapid scanning optical delay line based on micro-opto-electro-mechanical system (MOEMS) technology to improve the data acquisition in time domain imaging, capable of sampling rate beyond 100 Hz and time delays beyond the 100 ps.

Enhanced sampling rate in time domain imaging using MOEMS scanning optical delay line

An acousto-micro-optic deflector (AMOD) is provided. This device uses a special combination of an acousto-optic deflector (AOD) and a micro-optic deflector (MOD) to provide agile gimballess beam steering over large angles. The combination is driven such that the entire field of regard of the device is accessible, and continuous contact with the target point is maintained.

Acousto-micro-optic deflector

A piezoelectric translator has a flat ribbon geometry and a large translation length perpendicular to the surface of the bridge. The translator includes a platform supporting the optic or micro-optic element and a slender piezo actuation system for displacing the platform. A position sensing system provides feedback to the actuation system regarding displacement of the platform. The actuation system includes a plurality of bridge actuators wherein each actuator includes a flat piezoelectric ribbon and leaf spring cap bonded to the ribbon, in single- or double-sided geometry. A stacked bridge geometry is also provided and allows increased displacement for a given applied voltage. Two collinearly placed single span bridge actuators or two-span bridge actuators can be used to provide linear translations with micro-rotation control.

Miniature piezoelectric translators for optical applications

An optical code reader comprises an integrated optical resonator that is disposed within a housing and that includes a substrate, a cantilever beam, and a bimorph actuator. The cantilever beam is affixed at one end to the substrate, and at least a portion of the cantilever beam has a reflective transmit surface on one side and a photodetector on an opposite side. The bimorph actuator is affixed to the cantilever beam and is responsive to an electrical stimulus to cause the cantilever beam to move in accordance with the stimulus. Movement of the cantilever beam causes the reflective surface to cooperate with a light beam generated by a light source to provide a spot of light that moves on a code pattern, and also causes a field of view of the photodetector to be dynamically altered such that the photodetector tracks movement of the moving spot of light. Additionally, the code reader also comprises a reflective collection surface having a conical shape, and the photodetector is located approximately at a focal point of the reflective collection surface. The combination of these features permits a high signal-to-noise ratio to be achieved, so that the code reader exhibits superior operating characteristics as defined by long read range and large depths of field. The disclosed optical code reader is structurally reliable, low cost and small size, has improved scalability, has minimal power requirements, and uses only a minimal number of discrete components.

Method and apparatus for optical code reading using a MEM optical

A method to fabricate a tuning fork resonator gyro which uses non-piezoelectric substrate structure is proposed. The tuning fork structure can be effectively rendered piezoelectric for activation and sensing by thin film deposition of a piezoelectric material. Electrical excitation of the piezo film excites vibrations in the structure of the drive tuning fork, and the gyro signal generated due to rotation can be picked up from the piezo film on the signal tuning fork. Most piezoelectric films have a much higher piezoelectric coupling than crystalline quartz, the material used in the prior art. The piezoelectric films on mechanically hard non-piezoelectric substrates are simpler for fabrication, electroding, and have a number of other advantages over the prior art. Fabrication of the tuning fork structures can be done more simply than the prior art, and deposition of the piezo films can be accomplished by sol-gel, or other thin film techniques. The proposed methods thus provide considerable flexibility to separately optimize the resonator structure in terms of the physical and mechanical properties of the structure, the required piezoelectric properties, and methods for fabrication, processing and low cost manufacturing of resonator gyros.

Thin film micromechanical resonator gyro

A monolithic accelerometer is fabricated with an integral cantilever beam sensing element which is etched out of a silicon wafer from the back surface. A thermal silicon oxide is formed on both surfaces of a (100) silicon wafer. Silicon oxide is removed from the back surface in a pattern which defines the sides of the cantilever beam and the sides of an alignment groove. The width and orientation of the openings in the silicon oxide are selected to control the depth of etching when the wafer is subsequently etched with an anisotropic etchant. An integrated circuit is then formed on the front surface and dry etching is used to complete the groove and separate the sides of the beam from the wafer.

Method of fabricating a cantilever beam for a monolithic accelerometer

A piezoelectric double diffusion MOS structure in which three gates are inserted in the CVD oxide element. These gates are overlapped layers of CVD polysilicon on top of the ZnO and are capacitively coupled to the silicon substrate. The charge is placed on the middle floating gate and is retained because of the oxide layers which separate the gates. A program erase, gate is provided for discharging the floating gate and to set the modes.

Growing community of inventors

Newbury Park, CA, United States of America

Manouchehr E Motamedi