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:
Mar. 02, 2004
Filed:
Aug. 14, 2002
Corning Applied Technologies Corporation, Woburn, MA (US);
Abstract
An electrically controllable azimuth optical rotator ( ) includes a first quarterwave plate ( ) for receiving a first beam of electromagnetic energy ( ) having a first arbitrary polarization state, and outputting a second beam ( ) in response to the first quarterwave plate ( ). An electric voltage controlled ferro-electric variable phase retarder ( ) aligned at approximately 45 degrees to the first quarterwave plate ( ) receives the second beam and provides a third beam in response to the retarder ( ). The electric voltage controlled ferro-electric variable phase retarder ( ) is characterized by a phase shift of &phgr;=2&agr;, where &agr; is a desired angle of rotation of the first arbitrary polarization state. To provide a voltage-controlled rotation, a second quarterwave plate ( ) is aligned either parallel or perpendicular to the first quarterwave plate ( ) for receiving the third beam ( ) and outputting a fourth beam ( ) in response to the retarder ( ). As a result, the fourth beam ( ) has a polarization state similar to the first arbitrary polarization state but rotated by &agr;.