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.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 20, 2024
Filed:
Apr. 20, 2021
Ii-vi Delaware, Inc., Wilmington, DE (US);
Guomin Jiang, Fremont, CA (US);
Helen Chen, Cupertino, CA (US);
Haiji J. Yuan, Cupertino, CA (US);
Lixin Wang, Fremont, CA (US);
WenYi Cao, Shanghai, CN;
Xuewen Lu, San Jose, CA (US);
Qingyu Li, Cupertino, CA (US);
Yimin Ji, Irvine, CA (US);
II-VI Delaware, Inc., Wilmington, DE (US);
Abstract
A reconfigurable polarization rotator is formed of an array of very small liquid crystal (LC) cells (e.g., cells of less than 10 μm in width, termed 'microcells'), referred to hereinafter as “microcells”. Each LC microcell is addressable by a separate electrical voltage input that independently controls the polarization rotation performed by the associated LC microcell. By defining a set of adjacent microcells to be held at the same voltage level, that group may be used to form a polarization rotator window of a proper size for a first fiber array configuration. When a fiber array of a different configuration (say, an array with twice the pitch) is used, a different-sized group of adjacent LC microcells is held at a common voltage level so as to form a reconfigured “window” of a new dimension.