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. 11, 2007
Filed:
Aug. 15, 2005
Douglas M Gill, South Orange, NJ (US);
Christi K Madsen, Hearne, TX (US);
Conor S Rafferty, New York, NY (US);
Douglas M Gill, South Orange, NJ (US);
Christi K Madsen, Hearne, TX (US);
Conor S Rafferty, New York, NY (US);
Lucent Technologies Inc., Murray Hill, NJ (US);
Noble Devices Technologies, Newark, NJ (US);
Abstract
A semiconductor waveguide includes a section containing free charge, either electrons or holes, which can be steered into or removed from the path of the beam under the control of electrical signals. The mobile charges come from a potential well which may be either filled or depleted under electrical control. When the well is filled, the charges speed the beam propagation, introducing a phase change. When the well is emptied the beam propagates with extra delay. The phase shifter allows very high speed modulation of the beam using low voltage and low power electronics. The device can be created using standard silicon processing techniques, and integrated with other optical components such as splitters and combiners to create amplitude modulators, attenuators and other optical devices.