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:
Aug. 31, 1982
Filed:
Jun. 17, 1980
Applicant:
Inventor:
Gerard Mourou, Rochester, NY (US);
Assignee:
The University of Rochester, Rochester, NY (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H01J / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
2502 / ;
Abstract
A body of semiconductor material is biased with multi-kilovolt voltage to establish an electric field approaching the dielectric breakdown field for the semiconductor material. Low level optical energy, such as a laser pulse in the nano-joule range produces free carriers in the semiconductor which multiply in the presence of the electric field to produce avalanche conduction through the semiconductor body thereby switching the multi-kilovolt voltage in precise timed (picosecond) relationship with the application of the optical energy and with high switching or turn on sensitivity.