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. 01, 2003
Filed:
Mar. 27, 2001
Junhao Chu, Shanghai, CN;
Tera Fiberoptics, Inc., Fremont, CA (US);
Abstract
A method and system for control of light transmitted through a p-type semiconductor material, configured as part of a metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) structure. A variable gate voltage is applied to generate a variable number of sub-band charge carriers near an insulator-semiconductor interface in the MIS structure. Where the gate voltage is lower than a threshold voltage, transmission of light propagating adjacent to and parallel to the interface is relatively high. As the gate voltage is increased to a value larger than the threshold voltage, the number of sub-band carriers raised to a first sub-band energy level increases approximately monotonically. If the light wavelength is selected to have an associated photon energy equal to an energy difference between a second sub-band (which may be the continuum) and the first sub-band, a variable portion of the light propagating in the semiconductor will be depleted in pumping the sub-band carriers from the first sub-band state to the second sub-band state, thus providing controllable attenuation of light that propagates through, and exits from, the MIS structure.