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:
Apr. 08, 1997
Filed:
Oct. 21, 1993
Wolfgang D Pohl, Adliswil, CH;
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A near-field photon tunneling device consisting of a plurality of optical waveguides, such as optical fibers, arranged in juxtaposition with a variable tunnel gap through which photons from at least one of said optical fibers can be caused to tunnel, and wherein the tunnel gap is filled with a metal that is liquid at room temperature or at moderately elevated temperature. The width of the tunnel gap and the corresponding thickness of the liquid metal layer is remotely controllable. The control mechanisms for the width of the gap include optical means, piezo-electric elements and temperature sensitive means. The devices include optical couplers of the head-on and side-on types, optical modulators and switches, as well as display units.