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:
May. 29, 1984
Filed:
Dec. 20, 1982
William H McNeill, Carlisle, MA (US);
Yung J Chen, Weston, MA (US);
GTE Laboratories Incorporated, Waltham, MA (US);
Abstract
An electrooptic device for controlling the intensity of a monochromatic light beam comprises a first transparent element such as a triangular prism or hemicylindrical prism having a planar surface. A thin layer of a material such as a metal is in contact with the planar surface of the transparent element and a semiconductor material is adjacent to the metal layer. A voltage source provides a potential difference between the metal layer and the semiconductor material to alter the charge density in the semiconductor material to affect the degree of coupling between the light beam entering the device and surface plasmon waves generated within the device to correspondingly control the intensity of the light beam exiting the device.