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The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.

The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.

Patent No.:

US 11107972 B1

PDFFull Text
Date of Patent:
Aug. 31, 2021

Filed:

Jan. 30, 2019

Nanovoided tunable optics

Applicant:

Facebook Technologies, Llc, Menlo Park, CA (US);

Inventors:

Kenneth Diest, Kirkland, WA (US);

Andrew John Ouderkirk, Redmond, WA (US);

Robin Sharma, Redmond, WA (US);

Tanya Malhotra, Redmond, WA (US);

Barry David Silverstein, Kirkland, WA (US);

Christopher Yuan Ting Liao, Seattle, WA (US);

Erik Shipton, Kenmore, WA (US);

Gregory Olegovic Andreev, Redmond, WA (US);

Assignee:

Facebook Technologies, LLC, Menlo Park, CA (US);

Attorney:

FisherBroyles, LLP

Primary Examiner:

William R Alexander

Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G02F 1/01 (2006.01); H01L 41/193 (2006.01); H01L 41/09 (2006.01); H01L 41/047 (2006.01); H04R 17/00 (2006.01); G02B 27/01 (2006.01); G02F 1/061 (2006.01); G02B 5/08 (2006.01); G02B 5/30 (2006.01); G02B 27/10 (2006.01); G06F 3/01 (2006.01); C08F 14/20 (2006.01); C08F 14/22 (2006.01); C08G 77/04 (2006.01); H01L 41/083 (2006.01); H01L 41/18 (2006.01); C08L 83/04 (2006.01); B82Y 30/00 (2011.01); B82Y 40/00 (2011.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
H01L 41/193 (2013.01); C08F 14/20 (2013.01); C08F 14/22 (2013.01); C08G 77/04 (2013.01); G02B 5/08 (2013.01); G02B 5/3083 (2013.01); G02B 27/0172 (2013.01); G02B 27/0176 (2013.01); G02B 27/10 (2013.01); G02F 1/0102 (2013.01); G02F 1/061 (2013.01); G06F 3/011 (2013.01); H01L 41/047 (2013.01); H01L 41/0472 (2013.01); H01L 41/083 (2013.01); H01L 41/09 (2013.01); H01L 41/0913 (2013.01); H01L 41/0986 (2013.01); H01L 41/18 (2013.01); H04R 17/00 (2013.01); B82Y 30/00 (2013.01); B82Y 40/00 (2013.01); C08L 83/04 (2013.01); G02B 2027/0178 (2013.01); G02F 2202/022 (2013.01);
Abstract

An optical element includes a nanovoided polymer layer having a first refractive index in an unactuated state and a second refractive index different than the first refractive index in an actuated state. Compression or expansion of the nanovoided polymer layer, for instance, can be used to reversibly control the size and shape of the nanovoids within the polymer layer and hence tune its refractive index over a range of values, e.g., during operation of the optical element. Various other apparatuses, systems, materials, and methods are also disclosed.

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