The University of Alabama

Other

Valentin Morozov

Qiang Huang

H John Caulfield

Andrei Putilin

Joseph Shamir

Kristina M Johnson

Chong Chang Mao

Robert L Emerald

John K Korah

A system for determining a distance to a target object or a displacement of a target object monitors electrical characteristics of a semiconductor laser aimed at the object. Light emitted from the laser is reflected from a surface of the object back into the laser. The amount of reflected light reaching the laser affects electrical characteristics of the laser. Because the amount of reflected light reaching the laser depends on the distance to the target object, the electrical characteristics of the semiconductor laser provide an indication of the distance to the target object. Also, a change in the electrical characteristics can be used to determine an amount of displacement of a target object. A system embodying the invention could also include an optical detector array which can be focused on a target object by monitoring electrical characteristics of one or more semiconductor lasers. A plurality of semiconductor lasers could be arranged in a two dimensional or a three dimensional array such that the semiconductor lasers are located at different distances from a target surface. By monitoring the electrical characteristics of the plurality of semiconductor lasers, one can determine both an amount and a direction of a displacement of a target object relative to the semiconductor laser array.

Semiconductor laser based sensing device

A waveguide hologram illumination system is based on thin substrate waveguides bearing a hologram on the surface through which light is diffracted out. A light source is optically coupled to the waveguide such that light emitted from the source is caused to propagate along the waveguide, being diffracted out at intersections with the surface of the waveguide on which the hologram is formed. The selective emission through the hologram can be advantageously used to illuminate display holograms or spatial light modulators. Provisions are made for rendering the amount of light emitted through the hologram uniform along the length of the hologram.

Waveguide hologram illuminators

Contention free switches, networks and global interconnection systems for routing messages from N input sources to M output destinations are disclosed.

Contention free global interconnection

A multimode waveguide having a small thickness has light coupled to the side of the waveguide in order to provide a multimode operation of the waveguide for providing a continuous pattern of totally internally reflected light which is utilized to reconstruct holographic images from a holographic emulsion placed on a surface of the waveguide. This waveguide structure for reconstructuring a hologram has the capability of providing highly efficient hologram reconstruction while using ordinary light sources and is able to use beam diameters greater than the thickness of the waveguide.

Side illuminated multimode waveguide

Multimode waveguide holograms capable of using non-coherent light

Growing community of inventors

Boulder, CO, United States of America

Valentin Morozov