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:
Oct. 23, 1990
Filed:
Oct. 04, 1988
Terry A Dorschner, Newton Centre, MA (US);
Daniel P Resler, Wilmington, MA (US);
Raytheon Company, Lexington, MA (US);
Abstract
An optical beam phase shifter includes a liquid crystal cell having an optically-transparent common electrode on a first window and a multiplicity of parallel stripe electrodes on the second window. A multiplicity of control signals are applied between the individual stripe electrodes and the common electrode, thereby creating local variations of the refractive index of the liquid crystal molecules, which variations cause differential phase shifts across the cross section of a light beam incident thereon. The control signals are applied to contact pads affixed to an external surface of the liquid crystal cell, which contact pads underlie a plurality of the stripe electrodes. A multiplicity of conductors extend through the second window to couple the control signals to the stripe electrodes. In the first embodiment, the stripe electrodes are optically-transparent, and the incident beam is reflected from the contact pads. In a second embodiment, the stripe electrodes are reflective, and the incident beam is reflected therefrom.