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
Applicant:
Inventors:
Xu Wang, San Jose, CA (US);
Demetri Psaltis, Pasadena, CA (US);
Assignee:
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G02G 1/13 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G02G 1/13 ;
Abstract
A system of beam steering using electrical operation. A first system provides a grating and a liquid crystal material. When the liquid crystal is unenergized, there is a mismatch between the liquid crystal and the grating, causing the grating to diffract the light in a specified direction. The liquid crystal is energized to match its index of refraction to the grating. Then, the light is not diffracted by the grating, and hence travels in a different direction then it would when the liquid crystal was not energized. Another, finer system, forms electrically generated gratings using a liquid crystal material.