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:
Aug. 06, 2002
Filed:
Oct. 13, 2000
William H. Culver, Washington, DC (US);
Donald Cronin Schmadel, Jr., College Park, MD (US);
Other;
Abstract
The present invention is a system that includes phase spatial light modulators as optical switching elements in an optical switching system. One or more input light beams are deflected by one or more input optical deflectors to a mirror and then to one or more output optical deflectors. Each deflector is a phase spatial modulator which changes the direction of the light beam by changing the phase of the beam wave front. The wave front is two dimensionally subdivided into pixels and pixel reflectors are used displace portions of the wave front in a direction generally perpendicular to the beam axis and relative to each other. Beam splitters, lenses, decoders and controllers provide the ability to cross connect or reroute beams and route packets.