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:
Dec. 08, 1998
Filed:
Aug. 09, 1996
Arthur Ballato, Oceanport, NJ (US);
Richard H Wittstruck, Howell, NJ (US);
Yicheng Lu, East Brunswick, NJ (US);
Mitra Dutta, Silver Spring, MD (US);
Jagadeesh Pamulapati, Eatontown, NJ (US);
Paul H Shen, North Potomac, MD (US);
The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army, Washington, DC (US);
Abstract
An MQW is fabricated such that at a particular level of purely mechanical ress/strain the optical properties of the MQW are altered by breaking the heavy and light hole degeneracy (splitting of the heavy and light holes in the valence band) of the MQW in the E-k domain. In a preferred embodiment of the invention ring electrical contacts are disposed on the MQW and the entire MQW structure, including electrical contacts is mounted on a piezoelectric substrate, with the proper crystallographic orientation and strain induced orientation, via an epoxy. In operation, a bias is applied to the MQW structure and the piezoelectric substrate. The bias causes quantum decoupling of the heavy and light holes; however, the bias also will cause the piezoelectric material to move, which will induce a strain on the MQW structure. This strain will, in turn, also induce a decoupling of the heavy and light holes, but to a greater degree than the decoupling induced by the electrical bias and therefore, the absorption of the MQW will altered, thereby polarizing optical signal incident to (or through) the device.