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:
Jul. 10, 1990
Filed:
Nov. 04, 1988
Nile F Hartman, Stone Mountain, GA (US);
Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta, GA (US);
Abstract
Optical devices and techniques are disclosed for sensing properties of an environment with improved stability and lower cost. In a disclosed embodiment, there is provided a substrate having an index of refraction n.sub.s. A waveguide layer is provided and has a surface adjacent the substrate, the waveguide layer having an index of refraction n.sub.f that is greater than n.sub.s. A superstrate is provided adjacent the opposing surface of the waveguide layer, the superstrate having an index of refraction n.sub.c that is less than n.sub.f, the index of refraction of the superstrate being affected by the environment. An optical beam is injected into the waveguide layer such that at least two modes of the beam propagate in the waveguide layer. The interfering product of said at least two modes of the beam which have propagated through the waveguide layer is then detected.