JP2007528507A - System, method and computer program product for textileized waveguide display and memory - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus and method for an integrated display system. The integrated display system includes an illumination system for generating a plurality of input wave components in the first plurality of waveguide channels; integrated with the illumination system and in the second plurality of waveguide channels A modulation system for receiving a plurality of input wave components and generating a plurality of output wave components that collectively define a continuous set of images.
[Selection] FIG.

Description

(Cross-reference of related applications)
This application claims the advantages of US Provisional Application No. 60 / 544,591, filed February 12, 2004, and the respective advantages of the following US patent applications: That is, 10 / 812,294, 10 / 811,782, and 10 / 812,295 (filed on March 29, 2004, respectively) and (each on December 14, 2004) U.S. Patent Application Nos. 11 / 011,761, 11 / 011,751, 11 / 011,496, 11 / 011,762, and 11 / 011,770, and U.S. Patent Application Nos. 10 / 906,220, 10 / 906,221, 10 / 906,222, 10 / 906,223, 10/906, each filed on Feb. 9, 2005, respectively. 906,224, 10 / 906,226, and 10 / 906,226, and U.S. Patent Application Nos. 10 / 906,255, 10 (filed on Feb. 11, 2005, respectively). 906, 256, 10/906, 257, 10/906, 258, 10/906, 259, 10/906, 260, 10/906, 261, 10/906 No. 262, and No. 10 / 906,263. That disclosure is incorporated by reference in its entirety for each and every purpose.
(Technical field)
The present invention relates generally to transport for propagating radiation, and more particularly to a guide channel that includes an optically active component that enhances the reactivity of the properties that affect the radiation of the waveguide to external influences. It is related with the waveguide which has.

The Faraday effect is a phenomenon in which the plane of polarization of linearly polarized light rotates when light propagates through a transparent medium placed in a magnetic field and parallel to the magnetic field. The effectiveness of the magnitude of polarization rotation varies with the strength of the magnetic field, the Verde constant inherent to the medium, and the optical path length. The rotation angle based on the experiment is β = VBd
(Equation 1)
Where V is called the Verde constant (having the unit of angle min cm-1 gauss-1), B is the magnetic field, and d is the propagation distance exposed to the field. In the quantum mechanics description, Faraday rotation occurs because the pressing of the magnetic field modifies the energy level.

  Units as Faraday rotators that have high Verde constants or are used in optical isolators (for example, garnets containing iron) for measuring magnetic fields (such as those induced by current as a method of evaluating current intensity) It is known to use crystals). The optical isolator includes a Faraday rotator for rotating the plane of polarization by 45 °, a magnet for applying a magnetic field, a polarizer, and an analyzer. Conventional optical isolators are bulky types that do not use waveguides (eg, optical fibers).

  In conventional optics, magneto-optic modulators have been manufactured from separate crystals containing paramagnetic and ferromagnetic materials, in particular garnet (eg yttrium / iron garnet). Devices such as these require significant magnetic control fields. The magneto-optic effect has also been used to produce thin layer technology, particularly irreversible devices such as irreversible junctions. Devices such as these are based on mode conversion by the Faraday effect or by the Cotton-Mouton effect.

  An additional drawback of using paramagnetic and ferromagnetic materials in magneto-optical devices is that these materials can adversely affect the properties of radiation other than the polarization angle, eg, amplitude, phase, and / or frequency. It is a point.

  In the prior art, it has been known to use separate magneto-optic bulk devices (such as crystals) to collectively define display devices. These prior art displays have a relatively high cost per picture element (pixel), high operating costs for controlling individual pixels, and increased control complexity that does not scale well for relatively large display devices. It has several drawbacks including sex.

  Conventional imaging systems may be roughly classified into the following two categories. That is, (a) a flat panel display (FPD) and (b) a projection system (including a cathode ray tube (CRT) as a light emitting display). In general, the dominant technologies for the two systems are not the same, with exceptions. These two categories have clear challenges for future technologies, and existing technologies have not yet overcome these challenges in a satisfactory manner.

  A major challenge facing existing FPD technology compared to the dominant cathode ray tube (CRT) technology is cost ("flat panel" compared to CRT displays whose standard depth is approximately equal to the width of the display area. Meaning “flat” or “thin”).

  In order to achieve a set of predefined imaging standards including resolution, brightness, and contrast, FPD technology is almost 3 to 4 times more expensive than CRT technology. However, the bulkiness and weight of CRT technology, especially when the display area is enlarged, is a serious drawback. The desire for thin displays has driven the development of numerous technologies in the field of FPD activity.

  The high cost of FPD is mainly due to the use of sophisticated component materials in the dominant liquid crystal diode (LCD) technology or in the less common gas plasma technology. The unevenness of the nematic material used in LCDs results in a relatively high defect rate, and in many cases an array of LCD elements that are defective for individual cells results in the disposal of the entire display, or the cost of defective elements Leads to replacement.

  For both LCD and gas plasma display technologies, the inherent difficulty of controlling liquids or gases in the manufacture of such displays is a fundamental technical and cost limitation.

  A further cause of the high cost is the demand for relatively high operating overvoltages at each light valve / light emitting element in the existing technology. Fast switching speed on the imaging element, whether or not to rotate the nematic material of the LCD display, which in turn changes the polarization of the light transmitted through the liquid cell, or the excitation in the gas battery in the gas plasma display To achieve this, a relatively high voltage is required. In the case of LCDs, an “active matrix”, in which individual transistor elements are assigned to each imaging position, is a costly solution.

  As image quality standards for high definition television (HDTV) or higher products increase, existing FPD technologies cannot currently deliver image quality at a cost that is competitive with CRT. The cost difference at this end of the quality range is most noticeable. Delivering 35mm film quality resolution is technically feasible, but whether it is for television or computer display, it costs beyond the range of household appliances Is expected to involve.

  In the case of projection systems, there are two basic subclasses: television (or computer) displays and theatrical projection systems. Relative costs are an important issue in the context of competition with conventional 35 mm film projectors. However, in the case of HDTV, the projection system is a low cost solution when compared to conventional CRT, LCD FPD or gas plasma FPD.

  Current projection system technology also faces other challenges. HDTV projection systems face the dual challenge of minimizing the depth of the display while maintaining uniform image quality within the constraints of a relatively short projection distance to the display surface. This balance usually results in an unsatisfactory compromise at the expense of relatively low costs.

  However, an unstudied technical field for projection systems is in the cinema domain. Movie screen devices are an emerging application for projection systems, in which the issue of console depth versus uniform image quality is not usually true. Instead, the challenge is to be (at least) equal to the quality of a conventional 35 mm film projector at a competitive price. Existing technologies, including systems based on direct drive image light amplifiers (“D-ILA”), digital light processing (“DLP®”), and grating light valves (“GLV”) However, the quality of the conventional film projector is equal to that of the conventional film projector, but there is a considerable cost gap compared with the conventional film projector.

  The direct drive image light amplifier is a reflective liquid crystal light valve device developed by a JVC projector. A driver integrated circuit (“IC”) writes an image directly onto a CMOS-based light valve. The liquid crystal changes the reflectance in proportion to the signal level. These vertically aligned crystals achieve very fast response times with rise times plus a fall time of less than 16 milliseconds. Light from a xenon or ultra-high performance (“UHP”) metal halide lamp moves from the polarizing beam splitter, is reflected from the D-ILA element, and is projected onto the screen.

At the heart of the DLP® projection system is an optical semiconductor known as a DMD chip, a digital micromirror device pioneered by Dr. Larry Hornbeck of Texas Instruments in 1987 . The DMD chip is an advanced optical switch. It contains a rectangular array of microscopic mirrors with up to 1.3 million hinges, each of these micromirrors measuring less than one-fifth the width of a human hair and one of the projected images Corresponds to a pixel. When the DMD chip is coordinated with a digital video signal or graphic signal, the light source and projection lens, or its mirror, reflects the entire digital image onto the screen or other surface. The DMD and the advanced electronic circuitry that surrounds it are called Digital Optical Processing ^TM technology.

  A process called GLV (Grating-Light-Valve) has been developed. Prototype devices based on the technology achieved a contrast ratio of 3000: 1 (a typical high-end projection display only achieves 1000: 1 today). The device uses three lasers selected at special wavelengths to deliver color. The three lasers are red (642 nm), green (532 nm), and blue (457 nm). The process uses MEMS technology (microelectromechanical) and consists of a microribbon array of 1,080 pixels in a row. Each pixel consists of six ribbons, three are fixed and three move up and down. When electrical energy is applied, the three movable ribbons form a kind of diffraction grating that “filters” away the light.

  Part of the cost gap is due to the inherent difficulties that these technologies face in achieving certain important image quality parameters at low cost. Contrast is difficult to achieve for the micromirror DLP, especially in “black” quality. GLV does not face this difficulty (achieving pixel zero or black through optical grating wave interference), but instead faces the difficulty of achieving an intermittent film-like image with a line array scan source instead. ing.

  Regardless of whether the technology is LCD-based or MEMS-based, the existing technology is also constrained by the economic aspects of manufacturing at least 1Kx1K array elements (micromirrors, reflective liquid crystal elements ("LCoS", etc.)). The chip-based system has a high defect rate when these numbers of elements are required to operate at the required technical standards.

  It is known to use graded index optical fibers in concert with the Faraday effect for a variety of telecommunications applications. To apply the Faraday effect to an optical fiber, the dispersion and other performance metrics are not optimized for the Faraday effect and may have been degraded by the optimization for the Faraday effect. Although there are inherent contradictions, the telecommunication characteristics of conventional optical fibers are well known for telecommunication applications of optical fibers. In some conventional optical fiber applications, ninety degrees of polarization rotation is achieved by applying a hundred oersted magnetic field with a path length of 54 meters. When the fiber is placed inside a solenoid and the desired magnetic field is generated by directing current through the solenoid, the desired field is applied. For telecommunications applications, the 54 meter path length is acceptable when considering that it is designed for use in a system having a total path length measured in kilometers.

  Another conventional application for the Faraday effect in the optical fiber context is as a system for overlaying low speed data transmission on top of conventional high speed transmission of data through the fiber. The Faraday effect is used to slowly modulate high speed data to provide out-of-band frequency signaling or control. Again, this application is realized in telecommunications applications as a potential study material.

  In these conventional applications, the fiber is designed for use in telecommunications, and modification of the fiber characteristics for participation in the Faraday effect typically results in attenuation and dispersion performance for kilometer-long fiber channels. It is not allowed to degrade the telecommunication characteristics, including the numerical indicators.

  Once acceptable levels are achieved for fiber optic performance metrics to enable use in telecommunications, fiber optic manufacturing techniques are efficient and cost effective for very long distance optically pure and uniform fibers. It has been developed and polished to enable highly effective manufacturing. A high level overview of the basic optical fiber manufacturing process involves the manufacture of a preform glass shell that pulls the fiber from the preform and tests the fiber. Typically, a preform blank is an improved chemical vapor deposition that bubbles oxygen through a silicon solution having the requisite chemical composition to produce the desired attributes (such as refractive index, expansion coefficient, melting point) of the final fiber. MCVD) process. The gas vapor is introduced into a synthetic quartz tube or quartz tube (cladding) in a special lathe. The lathe is rotated and the torch moves along the outside of the tube. The chemicals in the gas react with oxygen by the heat from the torch, forming silicon dioxide and germanium oxide, which deposits inside the tube and fuses together to form glass. When this process is complete, a blank preform is produced.

  After the blank preform is made, cooled and tested, it is placed inside a fiber pulling tower with the preform on top near the graphite furnace. The furnace melts the tip of the preform, resulting in the formation of molten “droplets” that begin to fall due to weight. The molten “droplet” cools as it falls, forming glass strands. The strand is passed through a series of processing stations to apply the desired coating and cure the coating, at a rate monitored by a computer so that the strand has the desired thickness. It is attached to the towing vehicle that pulls. The fiber is pulled at a speed of about 33 to 66 feet per second and the drawn strand is wound on a spool. It is not unusual for these spools to contain more than 1.4 miles of optical fiber.

  This finished fiber is tested, including tests for numerical indicators of performance. These performance metrics for telecommunications grade fibers are: tensile strength (above 100,000 pounds per square inch), refractive index profile (numerical aperture, and screen for optical defects), fiber geometry Shape (core diameter, cladding dimensions, and coating diameter), attenuation (degradation of light of various wavelengths over distance), bandwidth, chromatic dispersion, operating temperature / range, temperature dependence on attenuation, and conducting light in water Including the ability to

  In 1996, a variation of the aforementioned optical fiber, subsequently named photonic crystal fiber (PCF), was demonstrated. PCF is an optical fiber / waveguide structure that uses a microstructured array of low index materials among higher index background materials. The background material is often undoped silica, and the low rate region is usually provided by air pores that run along the entire length of the fiber. PCF is divided into two general categories: (1) high index guiding fiber and (2) low index guiding fiber.

  Similar to the conventional optical fiber described above, the high index guiding fiber guides light in the solid core by the modified total internal reflection (MTIR) principle. Total internal reflection is caused by a low effective index in the area filled with fine-structured air.

  Low index guiding fibers use the photonic band gap (PBG) effect to guide light. Because the PBG effect makes it impossible to propagate within the microstructure cladding region, light is limited to the low index core.

  Although the term “conventional waveguide structure” is used to encompass a wide range of waveguide structures and methods, the scope of these structures will be described herein to implement embodiments of the present invention. May be modified. The features of different fiber type assistants are adapted to many different applications in which they are used. Proper operation of fiber optic systems relies on knowing what type of fiber is being used and why it is being used.

  Conventional systems include single mode, multimode, and PCF waveguides and also include many subvariants. For example, multimode fibers include stepped fibers and graded fibers, and single mode fibers include stepped fibers, matched cladding structures, depressed cladding structures, and other non-standard structures. Multimode fibers are best designed for shorter transmission distances and are suitable for use in LAN systems and video surveillance. Single mode fibers are best designed for long transmission distances and are suitable for long distance telephone systems and multichannel television broadcast systems. “Air clad” or evanescent coupled waveguides include optical wires or optical nanowires.

  The step index usually refers to providing a sudden change in the refractive index for the waveguide—the core has a refractive index greater than that of the cladding. A graded index refers to a structure that provides a refractive index profile that gradually decreases away from the center of the core (eg, the core has a parabolic profile). Single mode fiber is a non-dispersion shifted fiber (NDSF), dispersion shifted fiber (DSF), non-zero dispersion shifted fiber (NZ-DSF), etc. length and radiation frequency (multiple cases etc.) specific application examples Has created many different profiles tailored for. A variety of important single mode fibers called polarization maintaining (PM) fibers have been developed. All other single mode fibers that have been described so far were able to propagate randomly polarized light. The PM fiber is intended to propagate only one polarization of input light. PM fibers contain features not found in other fiber types. In addition to the core, there are additional (two) longitudinal regions called stress rods. As the name implies, these stress rods cause stress in the fiber core so that transmission of only one polarization plane of light is preferred.

As previously mentioned, conventional magneto-optic systems, particularly Faraday rotators and isolators, are specialized magnetics including rare earth doped garnet crystals and other special materials, typically yttrium-iron-garnet (YIG) or bismuth-substituted YIG. We have used optical materials. YIG single crystals are grown using the floating zone (FZ) method. In this method, Y ₂ O ₃ and Fe ₂ O ₃ are mixed to suit the stoichiometric composition of YIG, and then the mixture is sintered. The YIG seed crystal is set on the remaining shaft, but the resulting sintered product is set as the mother stick on one shaft in the FZ furnace. A predetermined preparation of sintered material is placed in the central region between the mother stick and the seed crystal to generate the fluid necessary to promote the adhesion of the YIG single crystal. While the two shafts are rotated, the light from the halogen lamp is focused on the central area. The central region forms a melt zone when heated in an oxygen-containing atmosphere. Under this condition, the mother stick and the seed move at a constant speed, the melting zone moves along the mother stick and grows a single crystal from the YIG sintered product.

  Since the FZ method grows crystals from a mother stick suspended in the air, contamination is eliminated and high-purity crystals are grown. The FZ method produces an ingot that measures 012 x 120 mm.

Bi-substituted iron garnet thick films are grown by a liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) method involving an LPE furnace. The crystalline material and the PbO—B ₂ O ₃ flux are heated and melted in a platinum crucible. Single crystal wafers such as (GdCa) ₂ (GaMgZr) ₅ O ₁₂ are immersed on the melt surface during rotation and grow Bi-substituted iron garnet thick films on the wafer. Thick films that are measured as 3 inches in diameter can be grown.

  To obtain a 45 ° Faraday rotator, these films are polished to a specific thickness, coated with an anti-reflective coating, and then cut from 1 square millimeter to 2 square millimeters to fit the isolator. Since it has a larger Faraday rotation capacity than a YIG single crystal, the Bi-substituted iron garnet thick film must be thinned to the order of about 100 μm, thus requiring high precision processing.

  Further new systems address the production and synthesis of bismuth-substituted yttrium-iron-garnet (Bi-YIG) materials, thin films and nanopowders. 30341 nGimat, Inc., located in Peachtree Industrial Street, Atlanta, GA 5313, Atlanta, Georgia, uses a combustion chemical vapor deposition (CCVD) system for the production of thin film coatings. In the CCVD process, a precursor, which is a metal-containing chemical used to coat an object, is dissolved in a solution that is usually a combustible fuel. This solution is sprayed to form microscopic droplets by a special nozzle. The oxygen stream then carries these droplets to the flame where they are burned. The substrate (the material being coated) is coated simply by pulling it out before the flame. The heat of the flame evaporates the droplets and provides the energy necessary for the precursor to react and deposit (condense) on the substrate.

  Furthermore, epitaxial lift-off has been used to achieve heterogeneous integration of many III-V and elemental semiconductor systems. However, integrating many other important material-based devices has been difficult using several processes. A good example of this problem is the integration of single crystal transition metal oxides on a semiconductor platform, the system required for on-chip thin film optical isolators. Realization of epitaxial lift-off in magnetic garnet has been reported. Deep ion implantation is used to produce buried sacrificial layers in single crystal yttrium iron garnet (YIG) and bismuth-substituted YIG (Bi-YIG) epitaxial layers grown on gadolinium gallium garnet (GGG). Damage caused by the implantation induces a large etch selectivity between the sacrificial layer and the rest of the garnet. A 10 micron thick film is lifted off the original GGG substrate by etching with phosphoric acid. Millimeter-sized parts were transferred to silicon and gallium arsenide substrates.

  In addition, researchers have reported a multilayer structure called a magneto-optic photonic crystal that exhibits Faraday rotation at 748 nm, which is a hundred percent (140%) greater than a single layer bismuth iron garnet film of the same thickness. Current Faraday rotators are generally single crystal or epitaxial films. However, single crystal devices are rather large, making their use difficult in applications such as optical integrated circuits. And since the membrane also exhibits a thickness of about 500 μm, an alternative material system is desirable. The use of iron garnets, especially stacked films of bismuth garnet and yttrium iron garnet, was investigated. Designed for use with 750 nm light, four heteroepitaxial layers of 81 nm yttrium iron garnet (YIG) on a 70 nm thick bismuth iron garnet (BIG), a BIG thickness 279 nm center layer and Featuring four layers of BIG over YIG. To manufacture the stack, pulsed laser deposition using an LPX305i 248 nm KrF excimer laser was used.

  As can be seen from the above description, the prior art utilizes special magneto-optic materials in most magneto-optic systems, but non-PCF optical fibers etc. by producing the required magnetic field strength unless the telecommunications measure is compromised It has also been known to use the Faraday effect together with a more conventional magneto-optical material. In some cases, post-manufacturing methods are used in conjunction with prefabricated optical fibers to provide specific special coatings for use in specific magneto-optic applications. The same is true for special magneto-optic crystals and other bulk implementations in that post-manufacture processing of pre-made materials is sometimes required to achieve a variety of desired results. Such special processing increases the final cost of the special fiber and creates an additional situation where the fiber may not meet specifications. Many magnetic applications typically include a small number (usually one or two) of magneto-optic components, so that a relatively high cost per piece can be tolerated. However, as the number of magneto-optic components desired increases, the final cost (in dollars and hours) grows, and in applications using hundreds or thousands of such components, It is essential to significantly reduce unit costs.

  What is needed is a reduction in unit cost and increased manufacturability, reproducibility, uniformity, and reliability while enhancing the responsiveness of properties that affect waveguide radiation to external effects This is an alternative waveguide technology that provides advantages over the prior art.

  An apparatus and method for an integrated display system is disclosed. The integrated display system includes an illumination system that generates a plurality of input wave components within a first plurality of waveguide channels; and is integrated with the illumination system and is integrated within the second plurality of waveguide channels. And a modulation system for generating a plurality of output wave components that collectively define a continuous set of images.

  The following is also a preferred embodiment of an integrated display manufacturing method according to the present invention, which method comprises: a) forming an illumination system for generating a plurality of input wave components in a first plurality of waveguide channels B) receiving a plurality of input wave components in a second plurality of waveguide channels integrated with the illumination system and collectively collecting a plurality of output wave components defining a continuous image set; Forming a modulation system for generating.

  The apparatus, method, computer program product and propagated signal of the present invention provide the advantage of using an improved and mature waveguide manufacturing process. In a preferred embodiment, the waveguide has an optical transport, preferably a short-range characteristic that affects the characteristics of the influencer by including an optically active component while maintaining the desired attributes of radiation. An optical fiber or waveguide channel adapted to strengthen. In a preferred embodiment, the characteristics of the affected radiation include the polarization state of the radiation, and the influencer controls the polarization rotation angle using a controllable variable magnetic field that propagates parallel to the transmission axis of the optical transport. Use the Faraday effect to do that. The optical transport is constructed so that the polarization can be quickly controlled using a low magnetic field strength over a very short optical path. The radiation is initially controlled to generate a wave component having one specific polarization. The polarization of the wave component is affected such that the second polarizing filter modulates the amplitude of the radiation emitted in response to the effect. In a preferred embodiment, this modulation includes extinguishing the emitted radiation. The incorporated patent applications, priority applications, and related applications disclose Faraday structured waveguides, Faraday structured waveguide modulators, displays, and other waveguide structures and methods that cooperate with the present invention. .

  Leveraging a mature and efficient fiber optic waveguide manufacturing process as disclosed herein as part of the present invention for use in the manufacture of low cost, uniform and efficient magneto-optic system elements In order to reduce the unit cost and increase manufacturability, reproducibility, uniformity and reliability, while enhancing the responsiveness of the properties affecting the radiation of the waveguide to external influences An alternative waveguide technology is provided that offers superior advantages.

  The present invention has been developed in the past to reduce the unit cost and increase manufacturability, reproducibility, uniformity and reliability while enhancing the reactivity of the properties affecting the radiation of the waveguide to external influences. The present invention relates to an alternative waveguide technology that provides advantages over this technology. The following description is presented to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention and is provided in the context of a patent application and its requirements. Various modifications to the preferred embodiment and the general principles and features described herein will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features described herein.

  In the following description, the three terms (1) optical transport, (2) property influencer, and (3) erasure have specific meanings in the context of the present invention. For the purposes of the present invention, an optical transport is a waveguide that is specifically adapted to enhance the properties that affect the features of the influencer while preserving the desired attributes of radiation. In a preferred embodiment, the properties of the affected radiation include its polarization rotation state, and the influencer controls the polarization angle using a controllable variable magnetic field that propagates parallel to the transmission axis of the optical transport. To use the Faraday effect. The optical transport is constructed so that the polarization can be quickly controlled using a low magnetic field strength over a very short optical path. In some specific implementations, the optical transport keeps the fiber's guided properties at the same time, otherwise the property influencer effectively builds and collaborates the radiation characteristics (s). It includes an optical fiber that exhibits a high Verde constant due to the waveguide of transmitted radiation while addressing spurious appearances.

  A property influencer is a structure for realizing characteristic control of radiation transmitted by an optical transport. In a preferred embodiment, the property influencer is preferably an influencer of the optical transport, in one implementation for an optical transport formed by an optical fiber having a core and one or more cladding layers. It is operably coupled to an optical transport that is integrated into or onto one or more of the cladding layers without significantly adversely altering the waveguiding attributes. In a preferred embodiment using the polarization characteristics of the transmitted radiation, a preferred implementation of the property influencer is a coil, a coil form or one or more magnetic fields (one or more of which are controllable). Structures that affect polarization, such as other structures that can be integrated to support / generate (and thus affect transmitted radiation) Faraday effect manifesting fields in optical transports It is.

  The structured waveguide of the present invention may in some embodiments serve as a transport in a modulator that controls the amplitude of the propagated radiation. The radiation emitted by the modulator has a maximum radiation amplitude and a minimum radiation amplitude that are controlled by the interaction of property influencers on the optical transport. Erasing simply refers to the minimum radiation amplitude being at a sufficiently low level (appropriate for certain embodiments) characterized as “off” or “dark” or other classification indicating the absence of radiation. In other words, in some applications, the sufficiently low but detectable / recognizable radiation amplitude is properly identified as “extinguished” when its level meets the parameters for the implementation or embodiment. May be. The present invention improves the response of the waveguide to the influencer by using an optically active component that is placed in the guiding region during waveguide fabrication.

  FIG. 1 is a general schematic plan view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention for a Faraday waveguide modulator 100. Modulator 100 includes an optical transport 105, a property influencer 110 operably coupled to transport 105, a first property element 120, and a second property element 125.

  The transport 105 may be implemented based on many well-known optical waveguide structures in the art. For example, the transport 105 is a specially adapted light having a guide channel that includes a guide region and one or more boundary regions (eg, a core and one or more cladding layers for the core). It may be a fiber (conventional or PCF) or the transport 105 may be a bulk device or substrate waveguide channel having one or more such inductive channels. Conventional waveguide structures are modified based on the type of radiation characteristics affected and the nature of the influencer 110.

  Influencer 110 is a structure for characterizing characteristics (directly or indirectly, such as through disclosed effects) on radiation transmitted through and / or on transport 105. . Many different types of radiation characteristics can be affected. And in many cases, the specific structure used to affect a given property may vary from implementation to implementation. In a preferred embodiment, a property that may also be used to control the output amplitude of radiation is a desirable property for influence. For example, the radiation polarization angle is one property that can be affected and may be used to control the transmitted amplitude of the radiation. Using another element, such as a fixed polarizer, the radiation amplitude is controlled based on the polarization angle of the radiation compared to the transmission axis of the polarizer. In this example, the transmitted radiation changes when the polarization angle is controlled.

  However, it is understood that other types of characteristics may also be affected and may be used to control output amplitude, such as radiation phase or radiation frequency. Other factors are typically used with modulator 100 to control the output amplitude based on the nature of the characteristic and the type and degree of influence on the characteristic. In some embodiments, other characteristics of the radiation may desirably be controlled, rather than the output amplitude, which may be desired for attributes whose characteristics other than those identified are controlled or for which the characteristics are desired. It may be required to be controlled differently to achieve control.

  The Faraday effect is just one example of one way to achieve polarization control within transport 105. A preferred embodiment of influencer 110 for Faraday polarization rotation effects uses a combination of a variable and fixed magnetic field that is proximate to or integrated into / on transport 105. These magnetic fields are preferably generated such that the controlling magnetic field is oriented parallel to the direction of propagation of the radiation transmitted through the transport 105. By appropriately controlling the direction and magnitude of the magnetic field with respect to the transport, the desired degree of influence on the radiation polarization angle is achieved.

  It is preferred in this particular example that the transport 105 is constructed to improve / maximize the “influency” of the property selected by the influencer 110. In the case of polarization rotation characteristics using the Faraday effect, the transport 105 is doped, formed, processed, and / or handled to increase / maximize the Verde constant. As the Verde constant increases, the influencer 110 can more easily affect the polarization rotation angle with a predetermined electric field strength and transport length. In the preferred embodiment of this implementation, attention to the Verde constant is a primary task using other features / attributes / features of the transport 105 secondary waveguide aspect. Although some implementations may be provided otherwise, in a preferred embodiment, influencer 110 is integrated with transport 105 through a waveguide manufacturing process (such as a preform manufacturing and / or pulling process). Or otherwise “strongly associated”.

  Elements 120 and 125 are property elements for selecting / filtering / acting on the desired radiation characteristics affected by influencer 110. Element 120 may be a filter used as a “gating” element to pass a wave component of the input radiation having the desired state of the appropriate characteristics, or it may be in the desired state of the appropriate characteristics. It may be a “processing” element for adapting one or more wave components of the input radiation. The gated / processed wave component from element 120 is provided to optical transport 105, and property influencer 110 controllably affects the transported wave component as described above.

  The element 125 is a cooperative structure with respect to the element 120 and acts on the affected wave component. The element 125 has a structure for passing WAVE_OUT based on the state of the characteristic of the wave component and controlling the amplitude of WAVE_OUT. The nature and details of the control are related to the characteristics affected and the state of the characteristics from element 120 and the details of how the initial state was affected by influencer 110.

  For example, the element 120 and the element 125 may be polarization filters if the affected characteristic is the polarization characteristic / polarization rotation angle of the wave component. Element 120 selects one particular type of polarization of the wave component, eg, right-handed polarized light. The influencer 110 controls the polarization rotation angle of the radiation as it passes through the transport 105. Element 125 filters the affected wave component based on the final polarization rotation angle compared to the transmission angle of element 125. In other words, WAVE_OUT has a high amplitude when the polarization rotation angle of the affected wave component coincides with the transmission axis of element 125. WAVE_OUT has a low amplitude when the polarization rotation angle of the affected wave component “crosses” the transmission axis of element 125. Crossing in this context refers to a rotation angle that is approximately ninety degrees off the transmission axis of a conventional polarizing filter.

  Furthermore, the relative orientation of element 120 and element 125 can be established such that the default state results in a maximum amplitude of WAVE_OUT, a minimum amplitude of WAVE_OUT, or some value in between. The default state refers to the magnitude of the output amplitude that is not affected by the influencer 110. For example, by setting the transmission axis of element 125 in a ninety degree relationship with respect to the transmission axis of element 120, the default state would be the minimum amplitude of the preferred embodiment.

  Element 120 and element 125 may be separate components, or one or more structures may be integrated on or in transport 105. In other embodiments, these elements may be distributed within a particular region of transport 105 or across transport 105, but in some cases, the elements may be transport 105 as in the preferred embodiment. May be localized with "input" and "output".

  In operation, radiation (shown as WAVE_IN) is incident on the element 120 and appropriate characteristics (eg, right-handed polarization (RCP) rotation component) are gated to pass the RCP wave component to the transport 105. /It is processed. Transport 105 transmits the RCP wave component until it is interacted by element 125 and the wave component (shown as WAVE_OUT) is passed. Incident WAVE_IN has a plurality of orthogonal states with respect to normal polarization characteristics (eg, right-handed polarized light (RCP) and left-handed polarized light (LCP)). Element 120 produces a particular state of polarization rotation characteristics (eg, passing one of the orthogonal states, blocking / shifting the other so that only one state is passed, etc.). The influencer 110 may affect that particular polarization rotation of the passed wave component in response to a control signal and modify it as specified by the control signal. The influencer 110 of the preferred embodiment can affect polarization rotation characteristics in the range of about ninety degrees. The element 125 then has a minimum value when it is affected and the wave component polarization rotation coincides with the transmission axis of the element 125 and a minimum value when the wave component polarization "crosses" the transmission axis. To interact with the wave component in order to be able to modulate the radiation amplitude of WAVE_IN. By using element 120, the amplitude of WAVE_OUT in the preferred embodiment is variable from a maximum level to a level that is extinguished.

  FIG. 2 is a detailed schematic plan view of a particular implementation of the preferred embodiment shown in FIG. Although the present invention is not limited to this particular example, the implementation is specifically described to simplify the description. The Faraday structured wave modulator 100 shown in FIG. 1 is the Faraday light modulator 200 shown in FIG.

  The modulator 200 includes a core 205, a first cladding layer 210, a second cladding layer 215, and a coil or coil form 220 (coil 220 having a first control node 225 and a second control node 230). And an input element 235 and an output element 240. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 2 taken between element 235 and element 240, with like numbers indicating the same or corresponding structure.

  The core 205 may include one or more of the following dopants added by standard fiber manufacturing techniques, such as variations in vacuum deposition methods. That is, (a) a color dye dopant (which effectively makes the modulator 200 a shining color filter from the light source system), (b) an efficient Faraday in the presence of YIG / Bi-YIG or Tb or TGG or an activating magnetic field. An optically active dopant, like other dopants, to increase the Verde constant of the core 205 to achieve rotation. Holes or irregularities are added in the core 205 by heating or stressing the fiber during manufacturing, further increasing the Verde constant and / or realizing a non-linear effect. To further simplify the description here, the description will mainly focus on non-PCF waveguides. However, in the context of this description, PCF variants may be substituted for non-PCF wavelength embodiments, unless the context clearly violates such alternatives. In the case of PCF waveguides, rather than using a color dye dopant, color filtering may be achieved using wavelength selective bandgap coupling or longitudinal structure / air gaps may be filled and doped. Thus, whenever color filtering / dye doping is described in the context of non-PCF waveguides, the use of wavelength selective bandgap coupling and / or filling and doping of PCF waveguides may be substituted when appropriate. Good.

  Many silica optical fibers are manufactured with a high level of dopant based on silica percentage (this level can be as high as fifty percent dopant). Current dopant concentrations in the silica structure of other types of fibers achieve about ninety degrees of rotation at distances of tens of microns. Conventional fiber manufacturers have increased the dopant concentration (eg, fibers commercially available from JDS Uniphase) and dopant profiles (eg, fibers commercially available from Corning Incorporated). Continue to achieve improvements in controlling. The core 205 achieves a sufficiently high and controlled concentration of optically active dopants to provide the necessary rapid rotation of low power at micron scale distances, and these power / distance values are It continues to decrease as further improvements are made.

  The first cladding layer 210 (optional in the preferred embodiment) is doped with a ferromagnetic monomolecular magnet that is permanently magnetized when exposed to a strong magnetic field. The magnetization of the first cladding layer 210 is extracted prior to addition to the core 205 or preform or from the modulator 200 (complete with core, cladding, coating (s) and / or elements). Can happen after. During this process, the preform or drawn fiber passes through a strong permanent magnetic field that is displaced ninety degrees from the transmission axis of the core 205. In a preferred embodiment, this magnetization is achieved by an electromagnet arranged as an element of the fiber tensioner. A first cladding layer 210 (with permanent magnetic properties) is provided to saturate the magnetic region of the optically active core 205, but the direction of the magnetic field from the layer 210 is perpendicular to the direction of propagation. Therefore, the angle of rotation of the radiation passing through the fiber 200 is not changed. The incorporated provisional application describes a method for optimizing the orientation of the ferromagnetic cladding doped by atomic atomization that is not optimal in crystal structure.

  The use of these SMMs is preferred as a dopant since single molecule magnets (SMMs) are discovered that can be magnetized at relatively high temperatures. The use of these SMMs allows for the generation of excellent doping concentrations and control of the dopant profile. Examples and methods of commercially available single molecule magnets are available from ZettaCore, Inc. of Denver, Colorado.

  The second cladding layer 215 is doped with a ferrimagnetic or ferromagnetic material and is characterized by an appropriate hysteresis curve. The preferred embodiment uses a “short” curve that is also “wide” and “flat” when creating the required field. When the second cladding layer 215 is saturated by a magnetic field generated by an adjacent electric field generating element (eg, coil 220), which is itself driven by a signal (eg, control pulse) from a controller such as a switching matrix drive circuit (not shown). The second cladding layer 215 immediately reaches a degree of magnetization appropriate to the degree of rotation desired for the modulator 200. In addition, the second cladding layer 215 may cause a subsequent pulse to increase the magnetization level (current in the same direction), refresh (no current or +/− maintenance current), or reduce (current in the opposite direction). It remains magnetized at that level or remains close enough to that level. This residual magnetic flux in the doped second cladding layer 215 maintains an appropriate degree of rotation over time even if the field is not constantly applied by the influencer 110 (eg, coil 220).

  Appropriate modification / optimization of the doped ferrimagnet / ferromagnet may further be achieved by ion bombardment of the cladding with appropriate process steps. “METHOD OF DEPOSITING A FERROMAGNETIC FILM ON A WAVEGUIDE AND A MAGNETO-OPTIC COMPONING COMPROMING AROM FILM DEPOSITED BY THE METHOD), which is assigned to Alcatel in Paris, France, and the ferromagnetic thin films deposited on the waveguide by the vapor phase method are ordered within the preferred crystal structure. Reference is made to US Pat. No. 6,103,010, which is bombarded by an ion beam at an angle of incidence that crushes no nuclei. Modification of the crystal structure is a method known in the art and may be utilized on silica cladding doped either in the manufactured fiber or on a doped preform material. The '010 patent is hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes.

  Similar to the first cladding layer 210, a suitable single molecule magnet (SMM) that can be made and magnetized at a relatively high temperature can allow the second cladding layer 215 to have an excellent doping concentration. Therefore, it is preferable as a dopant in a preferred embodiment.

  The coil 220 of the preferred embodiment is manufactured integrally on or in the fiber 200 to generate an initial magnetic field. This magnetic field from the coil 220 rotates the angle of polarization of the radiation transmitted through the core 205 and magnetizes the ferrimagnetic / ferromagnetic dopant in the second cladding layer 215. A combination of these magnetic fields is desired (such as the time of one video frame when the matrix of fibers 200 collectively forms a display as described in one of the related patent applications incorporated herein). The desired rotation angle is maintained for a period of time. For purposes of this description, a “coil form” is defined as a structure similar to a coil in which a plurality of conductive segments are disposed parallel to each other and perpendicular to the axis of the fiber. As the performance of the material increases—that is, the effective Verde constant of the doped core increases (or as a reinforced structural variant, including one that produces non-linear effects) —because of higher Verde constant dopants. The need for a “coil foam” surrounding a coil or fiber element may be reduced or obviated, and a simpler single band or Gaussian cylinder structure will be practical. These structures (including cylinder structures and coils and other similar structures) are included in the definition of a coil form when performing the functions of the coil form described herein. The terms coil and coil form may be used interchangeably when the context allows.

  When considering the variables in the equation that specify the Faraday effect, ie the magnetic field strength, the distance to which the magnetic field is applied, and the Verde constant of the rotating medium, one result is that the structure, components and / or apparatus using the modulator 200 is It can compensate for a coil or coil form formed from a material that produces a less powerful magnetic field. Compensation may be achieved by making the modulator 200 longer or by further increasing / improving the effective Verde constant. For example, in some implementations, the coil 220 uses a conductor that is a conductive polymer that is less efficient than a metal wire. In other implementations, the coil 220 uses wider but fewer windings that would otherwise be used with more efficient materials. In still other examples, such as when creating a coil 220 that has a less efficient operation, although the coil 220 is manufactured by a conventional process, other parameters may be necessary to achieve proper overall operation. Compensate accordingly.

  There is a trade-off between design parameters—fiber length, core Verde constant, and field generating element peak field power and efficiency. Taking these trade-offs into account, four preferred embodiments of integrally formed coil foams result including: (1) a twisted fiber for realizing a coil / coil form, (2) a fiber epitaxially wound with a thin film printed with a conductive pattern to achieve a plurality of layers of windings, (3) a coil / Coil / coil foam printed on the fiber by dipping pen nanolithography to produce coil foam, and (4) coated / doped glass fiber brazed, or alternatively coated with metal Or a conductive polymer that is not coated, that is, a metallic wire. Additional details of these embodiments are set forth in the related and incorporated provisional patent applications referenced above.

  Nodes 225 and 230 receive signals to include the necessary magnetic field generation within the core 205, the cladding layer 215, and the coil 220. This signal in a simple embodiment is a DC (direct current) signal of appropriate magnitude and duration to create the desired magnetic field and rotate the polarization angle of the WAVE_IN radiation propagating through the modulator 200. . A controller (not shown) may provide this control signal when the modulator 200 is used.

  Input element 235 and output element 240 are polarization filters that are provided as separate components or integrated in / on core 205 in the preferred embodiment. Input element 235 may be implemented in many different ways as a polarizer. A variety of polarization mechanisms that allow the passage of a single polarization type (special circular or linear) light into the core 205 may be utilized. That is, the preferred embodiment uses a thin film that is epitaxially deposited at the “input” end of the core 205. Alternative preferred embodiments are commercially available on the waveguide 200 to achieve polarization filtering (such as modifications to the silica in the core 205 or cladding layer as described in the incorporated provisional patent application). Use nanoscale microstructure structuring techniques. In some implementations for efficient input of light from one or more light sources (s), the preferred illumination system allows repeated reflections of “wrong” initially polarized light A cavity may be included. Thereby, all the light is ultimately accepted, ie it decomposes into “correct” polarized light. If desired, polarization maintaining waveguides (fibers, semiconductors) may be utilized, particularly depending on the distance from the illumination source to the modulator 200.

  The output element 240 of the preferred embodiment is a “polarizing filter” element that is deflected ninety degrees from the orientation of the input element 235 for the default “off” modulator 200. (In some embodiments, the default may be turned “on” by aligning the axes of the input and output elements. Similarly, other defaults such as fifty percent amplitude may be input and output elements. The element 240 is preferably a thin film that is epitaxially deposited on the output end of the core 205. Input element 235 and output element 240 may be configured differently from those described herein using other polarizing filter / control systems. If the affected radiation properties include properties other than the radiation polarization angle (eg, phase or frequency), other input and output functions may be used as described above to modulate the amplitude of WAVE_OUT in response to the influencer. Used to properly gate / process / filter desired characteristics.

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of a preferred embodiment of display assembly 400. The assembly 400 includes a collection of picture elements (pixels) each produced by a waveguide modulator 200 _{i, j} as shown in FIG. A control signal for control of each influencer of the modulator 200 _{i, j} is provided by the controller 405. The radiation source 410 provides source radiation for input / control by the modulators 200 _{i, j} , and the front panel arranges the modulators 200 _{i, j} in the desired pattern and / or optionally one or more. May be used to provide post-output processing of a number of pixels.

The radiation source 410 may be a single balanced white or separate RGB / CMY tuned source or sources, or other suitable radiation frequency. The source (s) 410 may be remote from the inputs of the modulators 200 _{i, j} , may be adjacent to these inputs, or on / in the modulators 200 _{i, j.} May be integrated. Other implementations may use multiple or even more (possibly one source per modulator 200 _{i, j} ), but some implementations use a single source The

As described above, the preferred embodiment for the optical transport of modulators 200 _{i, j} includes an optical channel in the form of a special optical fiber. However, semiconductor waveguides, waveguide holes, or other optical waveguide channels that include channels or regions formed "deep" through the material are also encompassed within the scope of the present invention. These waveguide elements are the underlying imaging structure of the display and integrate and incorporate an amplitude modulation mechanism and a color selection mechanism. In a preferred embodiment for an FPD implementation, the length of each of the optical channels is preferably on the order of tens of microns (although the length may vary as described herein).

  It is a feature of the preferred embodiment that the length of the optical transport is short (about 20 mm or less), the effective verde value increases and / or can be constantly shortened as the magnetic field strength increases. The actual depth of the display is a function of the channel length, but since the optical transport is a waveguide, the path need not be linear from source to output (path length). In other words, in some implementations the actual path may be bent to provide a shallower effective depth. The path length is a function of the Verde constant and the magnetic field strength as described above, and the preferred embodiment addresses very short path lengths of a few millimeters or less, although longer lengths are also used in some implementations. It's okay. The required length is determined by the influencer to achieve the desired degree of influence / control on the input radiation. In the preferred embodiment of polarized radiation, this control can achieve about ninety degrees of rotation. In some applications, higher levels of erasing (eg, brighter) may use fewer rotations that reduce the required path length. Accordingly, the path length is also affected by the desired degree of influence on the wave component.

The controller 405 includes many alternatives for the construction and assembly of a suitable switching system. The preferred implementation not only includes a point-to-point controller, but it also includes a “matrix” that structurally couples and holds the modulators 200 _{i, j} and electronically addresses each pixel. In the fiber optic case, inherent to the nature of the fiber component is the potential for an all-fiber textile structure and proper addressing of the fiber element. A flexible mesh or solid matrix is an alternative structure with an accompanying assembly method.

It is a feature of the preferred embodiment that the output of one or more modulators 200 _{i, j} may be processed to improve its application. For example, the output end of the waveguide structure is heat treated and pulled, particularly when implemented as an optical fiber, to form a tapered end, or otherwise worn out, twisted, or It may be shaped to enhance light scattering at the output end, thereby improving the viewing angle at the display surface. Some and / or all of the modulator outputs may be processed in a similar or different manner to collectively produce the desired output structure that achieves the desired result. For example, the various focus, attenuation, color, or other attribute (s) of WAVE_OUT from one or more pixels may be one or more output edges / corresponding panel positions (may be multiple). ) May be controlled or influenced by the process.

The front panel 415 may simply be a piece of optical glass or other transparent optical material that faces the polarizing component, or it may include additional functional and structural features. For example, the panel 415 may include guides or other structures to _align the output ends of the modulators 200 _{i, j} in the desired relative orientation with the adjacent modulators 200 _{i, j} . FIG. 5 is a diagram of one arrangement for the output ports 500 _{x, y} of the front panel 415 shown in FIG. Other arrangements are also conceivable depending on the display desired (eg circular, oval or other regular or irregular geometry). When the application requires it, the active display area need not be adjacent pixels so that a ring or “doughnut” display is possible when appropriate. In other implementations, the output port may focus on other types of output post-processing on one or more pixels, may be distributed, may be filtered, or may be performed.

  A waveguide end is desired (such as a curved surface) that allows additional focusing capability in order with additional optical elements and lenses (some of which may be included as part of panel 415). The optical geometry of the display or projector surface that terminates in a three-dimensional surface changes itself. Some applications require multiple regions of concave surface area, flat surface area and / or protruding surface area, each having a different curvature and orientation according to the present invention and providing an appropriate output shape. Good. In some applications, special geometric shapes need not be fixed, but may be dynamically modifiable to change shape / orientation / dimensions as desired. Implementations of the present invention may also create various types of haptic display systems.

In a projection system implementation, the radiation source 410, the “switching assembly” with the controller 405 coupled to the modulators 200 _{i, j} , and the front panel 415 may be separated from each other by a separate module or device. You may benefit from being housed inside. With respect to radiation source 410, in some embodiments, the illumination source (s) are switched and assembled due to the heat generated by the type of high amplitude light normally required to illuminate a large theater screen. It is advantageous to separate from the product. Even if multiple illumination sources are used, for example, if the otherwise concentrated heat output is distributed within a single xenon lamp, the heat output may still be desired to be separated from the switching and display elements. It can be big enough. In this way the illumination source (s) will be housed in an insulated case with heat sink and cooling element. The fiber will then transmit light from a separate or single source to the switching assembly and then projected onto the screen. The screen may include some features of the front panel 415, or the panel 415 may be used before illuminating a suitable surface.

  There are unique advantages to the projection / separation of the switching assembly from the display surface. Placing the lighting and switching assembly at the base of the projection system (which would be true for FPD) can reduce the depth of the projection TV cabinet. Alternatively, the projection surface may be housed in a compact ball at the top of a thin lamp-like column, or suspended from the ceiling and cable in front of a shadowing system that utilizes a reflective fabric screen.

  In the case of theatrical projection, the waveguide structure from the device on the floor to the compact final optical device in the projection window area has the potential to convey the image formed by the switching assembly. Among other advantages and configurations, it suggests a space utilization strategy for accommodating both a conventional film projector and a new preferred embodiment projector in the same projection room.

  A monolithic structure of waveguide strips arranged side by side or glued, each comprising thousands of waveguides on the strip, may achieve high definition imaging. However, the construction of “bulk” fiber optic components may also achieve the small protruding surfaces required in the preferred embodiment. Single mode fibers (especially without the durability performance requirements of external telecommunications cables) have a sufficiently small diameter that the fiber cross-sectional area is very small and suitable as a display pixel or subpixel.

  In addition, integrated optical fabrication techniques are expected to be able to achieve the attenuator array of the present invention in the manufacture of large monolithic or superficial single semiconductor substrates or chips.

  In the molten fiber projection surface, the molten fiber surface may then be polished to achieve the desired curvature to focus the image on the optical array. Alternatively, the fiber ends that are glued or otherwise tied together may have a shaped tip and, if necessary, arranged at its end in a shaped matrix to achieve a curved surface. May be.

  In the case of projection television or other non-theater projection applications, the option of separating the lighting module and switching module from the projector surface allows a new way of achieving a less bulky projection television cabinet structure.

  FIG. 6 is a schematic representation of a preferred embodiment of the present invention for a portion 600 of the structured waveguide 205 shown in FIG. Portion 600 is a radiation propagation channel of waveguide 205, usually a guiding channel (eg, a core for a fiber waveguide), but includes one or more boundary regions (eg, cladding for a fiber waveguide). It's okay. Other waveguiding structures have a variety of specific mechanisms for enhancing the waveguiding properties of radiation propagating along the transmission axis of the channel region of the waveguide. Waveguides include photonic crystal fibers, special thin film stacks of structural materials, and other materials. Although the special features of waveguiding may vary from waveguide to waveguide, the present invention may be adapted for use with a variety of structures.

  For the purposes of the present invention, the term guiding region or guiding channel and boundary region refers to a cooperative structure for enhancing the propagation of radiation along the channel's transmission axis. These structures are different from the post-fabrication processing of various buffers or coatings or waveguides. The difference in principle is that the other components of the waveguide do not propagate, but the boundary region can propagate wave components that normally propagate through the guiding region. For example, in multimode fiber optic waveguides, significant energy in higher order modes propagates through the boundary region. One difference is that the other support structure is thus substantially opaque while the guide / boundary region (s) are substantially transparent to the propagating radiation.

  As previously described, influencer 110 operates in concert with waveguide 205 to affect the properties of wave components that propagate as it is transmitted along the transmission axis. Thus, portion 600 is said to have an influencer response attribute, which in a preferred embodiment is specifically structured to enhance the response of the propagating wave characteristic to influencer 110. Portion 600 may include a plurality of components (eg, rare earth dopant 605, holes 610, structural irregularities 615) disposed as desired for a particular implementation within the guiding region and / or one or more boundary regions. , Ultrafine bubbles 620, and / or other elements 625). In preferred embodiments, portion 600 often has a very short length of less than about 25 millimeters, and sometimes has a much shorter length, as described above. The influencer response attributes enhanced by these components are short (eg, as opposed to telecommunications fibers optimized for very long lengths of about several kilometers or more including attenuation and chromatic dispersion). Optimized for length waveguides. The components of portion 600 that are optimized for another application will significantly exacerbate the use of waveguide telecommunications. Although the presence of constituents is not intended to hurt telecommunications applications, the preferred embodiment concentrates on enhancing the influencer reaction attribute over the telecommunications attribute (s). Such degradation may occur and is not a disadvantage of the preferred embodiment.

  The present invention considers that there are many different wave characteristics that can be affected by different structures of influencer 110. The preferred embodiment targets the Faraday effect related properties of portion 600. As described above, the Faraday effect induces a change in polarization rotation in response to a magnetic field parallel to the propagation direction. In the preferred embodiment, when influencer 110 generates a magnetic field parallel to the transmission axis, in portion 600, the amount of rotation depends on the strength of the magnetic field, the length of portion 600, and the Verde constant of portion 600. The constituent material increases the reactivity of the portion 600 to this magnetic field, for example by increasing the effective Verde constant of the portion 600.

  One significance of the waveguide manufacturing and feature paradigm shift according to the present invention is that the modification of the manufacturing techniques used to manufacture kilometer-length optically pure telecommunications grade waveguides potentially An inexpensive imperial (but optically active) influencer-reaction waveguide can be manufactured at low cost in length. As previously mentioned, some implementations of the preferred embodiment may use a myriad of very short length waveguides modified as disclosed herein. Cost savings and other efficiencies / advantages are that these assemblies are formed from short length waveguides that are created (eg, split) from longer waveguides manufactured as described herein. It is realized by. These cost savings and other efficiencies and advantages use mature manufacturing techniques and equipment that have the potential to overcome many of the shortcomings of magneto-optical systems that utilize separate magneto-optical crystals conventionally manufactured as system elements. Including advantages to For example, these drawbacks include high manufacturing costs, lack of uniformity across multiple magneto-optic crystals, and the relatively large size of the individual components that limit the size of the collection of individual components.

  Preferred embodiments include modifications to the fiber waveguide and fiber waveguide manufacturing methodology. In its most common, an optical fiber is a transparent (at a critical wavelength) dielectric (usually glass or plastic) filament, usually with a circular cross-section for guiding light. In the case of early optical fibers, the cylindrical core was surrounded by a similar geometric cladding and was in intimate contact. These optical fibers guided the light by giving the core a refractive index that is slightly larger than the refractive index of the cladding layer. Other fiber types provide different guidance mechanisms-important in the context of the present invention include photonic crystal fibers (PCF) as described above.

Silica (silicon dioxide (SiO ₂ )) is the basic material from which the most common communication grade optical fibers are made. Silica may occur in crystalline or amorphous forms and occurs naturally in impure forms such as quartz and sand. The Verde constant is an optical constant that describes the strength of the Faraday effect of a particular material. Most materials, including silica, have very small Verde constants and are wavelength dependent. It is a substance that contains paramagnetic ions such as terbium (Tb) and is very powerful. High Verde constants are found in terbium-doped high density flint glasses or in crystals of terbium gallium garnet (TGG). This material generally has excellent transparency properties and is very resistant to laser loss. The Faraday constant is not colored (ie it is wavelength independent), but the Verde constant is a very powerful function of wavelength. At 632.8 nm, the TGG Verde constant is reported to be 134 rad T-1, whereas at 1064 nm it has dropped to -40 rad T-1. This operation means that a device manufactured with a particular degree of rotation at one wavelength will produce much less rotation at longer wavelengths.

  Constituent materials are in some ways YIG / Bi-YIG or Tb or TGG, or other best to increase the Verde constant of the waveguide to achieve efficient Faraday rotation in the presence of an activating magnetic field. Including optically activated dopants such as dopants that function in When heated or stressed during the fiber manufacturing process as described below, the Verde constant may be further increased by adding additional constituents (holes or irregularities) to the portion 600. Rare earths, such as those used in conventional waveguides, are utilized as passive enhancements for transfer attribute elements and are not utilized in optically active applications.

  Silica optical fiber is manufactured with a high level of dopant, such as at least 50% dopant, compared to the silica percentage itself, and other dopant concentrations required to achieve 90 ° rotation at tens of microns or less. Proven improvements are proven with increasing silica concentrations (eg, fibers available from JDS Uniphase) and improvements are available (eg, Corning Incorporated). To achieve sufficiently high and controlled concentrations of optically active dopants to induce rotation at low power at micron scale distances, as demonstrated by controlled dopant profiles be able to.

  FIG. 7 is a schematic block diagram of an exemplary waveguide manufacturing system 700 for performing the preferred embodiment of the waveguide preform of the present invention. System 700 represents a modified chemical vapor deposition (MCVD) process to produce a glass rod called a preform. The preform from the conventional process is a solid rod of ultra high purity glass that accurately reproduces the desired optical properties of the fiber, but increases the line dimensions by more than two orders of magnitude. However, the system 700 does not emphasize optimal purity, but produces a preform that optimizes short distance optimization of the influencer reaction. The preform is typically made using one of the following chemical vapor deposition (CVD) methods. That is, 1. Improved chemical vapor deposition (MCVD), 2. 2. plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PMCVD); 3. plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PCVD); 4. External deposition (OVD), Gas phase shafting (AVD). All these methods are based on a thermal chemical vapor deposition reaction that forms an oxide deposited as a layer of glass particles, called soot, outside the rotating rod or inside the glass tube. The same chemical reaction occurs in these ways.

Various liquids that provide sources for Si and dopants (eg, starting materials are solutions of SiCl ₄ , GeCl ₄ , POCl ₃ and gaseous BCl ₃ ) are oxygen gas, each liquid in heated bubbler 705. And when there is gas from the source 710, it is heated. These liquids evaporate in the oxygen stream controlled by the mass flow meter 715 and the gas forms silica and other oxides from the combustion of the halide that produces the glass in the silica lathe 720. Chemical reactions called oxidation reactions occur in the gas phase as listed below. That is, GeCl ₄ + O ₂ → GeO ₂ + 2Cl ₂ SiCl ₄ + O ₂ → SiO ₂ + 2Cl ₂ 4POCl ₃ + 3O ₂ → 2P ₂ O ₅ + 6Cl ₂ 4BCl ₃ + 3O ₂ → 2B ₂ O ₃ + 6Cl ₂

  Germanium oxide and phosphorus pentoxide increase the refractive index of the glass, and boron oxide decreases it. These oxides are known as dopants. Other bubblers 705 containing appropriate constituents to enhance the influencer reaction attributes of the preform may be used in addition to those shown.

  Changing the composition of the mixture during the process affects the refractive index profile and the component profile of the preform. The flow rate of oxygen is controlled by a mixing valve 715 and the reactant gas 725 is blown into a silica pipe 730 that includes a heated tube 735 where oxidation occurs. Chlorine gas 740 is blown out of tube 735, while the oxidized compound is deposited in the tube in the form of soot 745. The concentration of iron and copper impurities is reduced from about 10 ppb in the unprocessed liquid to less than 1 ppb in soot 745.

The tube 735 is heated using a transverse H ₂ O ₂ burner 750 and continuously rotated to make the soot 745 glassy into the glass 755. By adjusting the relative flow of the various vapors 725, multiple layers of different refractive indices such as core-to-cladding or variable core index profiles for GI fibers can be obtained. After stratification is complete, tube 735 is heated and collapses into a round solid cross-section rod called a preform rod. In this step, it is essential that the center of the rod is completely filled with material and not hollow. The preform rod is then placed in a drawing furnace as described in conjunction with FIG.

The main advantage of MCVD is that reaction and deposition occur in a closed space, making it more difficult for unwanted impurities to enter. The index profile of the fiber is easy to control and the accuracy required for the SM fiber can be achieved relatively easily. The device is simple to build and control. A potentially significant limitation of the method is that the tube dimensions inherently limit the rod size. Thus, this technique typically forms a fiber of 35 km length, or at most 20 km to 40 km. In addition, impurities in the silica tube, mainly H ₂ and OH—, tend to diffuse into the fiber. Also, the process of melting deposits to eliminate the hollow center of the preform rod sometimes causes a decrease in the refractive index of the core, making the fiber usually unsuitable for telecommunications applications, but generally in the context of the present invention It does not matter. In terms of cost and expense, the main disadvantage of the process is that it initiates the oxidation reaction and heats the tube 735 to make the soot vitreous, that is, not directly steam. Since indirect heating is used, the adhesion rate is relatively slow. The adhesion rate is usually 0.5 to 2 g per minute.

  A variation of the process described above handles fibers doped with rare earths. In order to produce rare earth doped fibers, the process begins with a rare earth doped preform—typically produced using a solution doping process. First, an optical cladding, mainly made of fused silica, is deposited inside the substrate tube. Next, the core material, which may also contain germanium, is deposited at a reduced temperature to form a diffused water permeable layer known as a “glass raw material”. After deposition of the glass raw material, this partially completed preform is sealed at one end and removed from the lathe and introduced with the appropriate salt solution of the desired rare earth dopant (eg, neodymium, erbium, ytterbium, etc.) Is done. During the fixed period, the solution is left to permeate the glass material. After discarding excess solution, the preform is returned to the lathe, dried and hardened. While solid, the cracks in the glass material collapse and encapsulate the rare earth. Finally, the preform is subjected to controlled collapse at high temperatures, forming a solid rod of glass—rare earth is incorporated into the core. In general, including rare earths in fiber cables is not optically active. That is, it responds to electrical, magnetic, or other perturbations or fields to affect the characteristics of light propagating through the doped medium. Conventional systems are the result of ongoing search to increase the percentage of rare earth dopants driven by the goal of improving the “passive” transmission characteristics of the waveguide (including telecommunications attributes). However, increasing the percentage of dopant in the waveguide core / boundary is advantageous because it affects the optical activity of the composite media / structure for the preferred embodiment. As mentioned above, in a preferred embodiment, the dopant to silica percentage is at least fifty percent.

  FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary fiber pulling system 800 for making a preferred embodiment of the present invention from a preform 805, such as that produced from the system 700 shown in FIG. The system 800 converts the preform 805 into thin filaments, such as hair that is normally shaped by drawing. The preform 805 is mounted in a feed mechanism 810 that is mounted near the top of the tower 815. The mechanism 810 lowers the preform 805 until the tip enters the high purity graphite furnace 820. Pure gas is injected into the furnace to provide a clean and conductive atmosphere. Within the furnace 820, a tightly controlled temperature approaching 1900 ° C. softens the tip of the preform 805. Once the softening point at the preform tip is reached, gravity prevails and the molten mass “spontaneously falls” until it is stretched into thin strands.

  In order for an operator to produce a transport 835 that is wound on a spool by a tow wheel 840, this strand of fiber is passed through a laser micrometer 825 and a series of processing stations 830x (eg, for coating and buffering), and the drawing process is performed. Start. The fiber is pulled by a towing vehicle 840 located at the bottom of the drawing tower 815 and then wound around a winding drum. During drawing, the preform 805 is heated at an optimum temperature to achieve an ideal drawing tension. Drawing speeds of 10 to 20 meters per second are not uncommon in the industry.

  During the drawing process, the diameter of the drawn fiber is controlled to 125 microns within a tolerance of only 1 micron. A laser-based diameter gauge 825 monitors the fiber diameter. Gauge 825 samples the fiber diameter at a rate in excess of 750 times per second. The actual value of the diameter is compared to a 125 micron target. A slight deviation from the target is converted into a change in drawing speed and sent to the towing vehicle 840 for correction.

  Processing station 830x typically includes a mold for applying two layer protective coatings on the fiber—a soft inner coating and a hard outer coating. This two-part protective coating provides mechanical protection for processing while also protecting the unblemished surface of the fiber from harsh environments. These coatings are cured by an ultraviolet lamp as part of the same or other processing station 830x. Other stations 830x may provide an apparatus / system for enhancing the influencer response attributes of transport 835 as it passes through the station (s). For example, other mechanisms for introducing a variety of mechanical stressors, ion bombardment, or influencer reaction attributes enhance the constituent materials at the draw stage.

  After being wound on a reel, the drawn fiber is tested for appropriate optical and geometric parameters. For transmission fibers, typically the tensile strength is first tested to ensure that the minimum tensile strength for the fiber has been achieved. After the initial test, many different tests are performed, in the case of transmission fibers, attenuation (decrease in signal strength with distance), bandwidth (information transmission capability, important measurement of multimode fiber), aperture Number (measurement of fiber acceptance angle), cutoff wavelength (wavelength that only single mode propagates in single-mode fiber), mode field diameter (in single-mode fiber, radial width of optical pulse in fiber, interconnect Important for) and chromatic dispersion (spreading of light pulses for light of different wavelengths traveling at different speeds through the core, in single-mode fiber, this is a limiting factor for the ability to convey information Test for transmission attributes including (if any).

  As described herein, the preferred embodiment of the present invention uses an optical fiber as a transport, and primarily achieves amplitude control by using a “linear” Faraday effect. The Faraday effect is directly related to the magnitude of the magnetic field applied in the direction of propagation based on the length to which the field is applied and the Verde constant of the material through which the radiation is propagated. Although the linear effect is known, the materials used in the transport may not have a linear response to an induced magnetic field, such as from an influencer, in establishing the desired magnetic field strength. In this sense, the actual output amplitude of the propagated radiation depends on the applied signal from the controller and / or influencer magnetic field, and / or polarization, and / or the modulator or other attribute or feature of WAVE_IN. It may be non-linear. For purposes of this description, the characterization of a modulator (or element thereof) in terms of one or more system variables is referred to as the modulator (or element) attenuation profile.

  The fiber manufacturing process continues to advance, particularly with respect to improving doping concentration as well as manipulating dopant profiles, periodic doping during production runs, and related processing activities. US Pat. No. 6,532,774, Method of Providing High Level of Rare Earth Concentrations in Glass Fiber Preforms, Co-doping of multiple dopants Fig. 2 shows an improved process for (co-doping). Successful increase of the dopant concentration directly improves not only the performance of the doped core to facilitate non-linear effects, but also the linear Verde constant of the doped core.

  The predetermined attenuation profile may be tailored to a particular embodiment, for example, by controlling the composition, orientation and / or ordering of the modulator or its elements. For example, changing the material that makes up the transport may change the “influency” of the transport, or alter the degree to which an influencer “influences” a particular propagation wave_component. This is just one example of a composition decay profile. The modulator of the preferred embodiment allows attenuation smoothing where different waveguide channels have different attenuation profiles. For example, in some implementations having an attenuation profile that depends on polarization palmarity, a modulator is used in the complementary transport channel of the second transport for right-handed polarized wave_components. A different attenuation profile may be provided to the transport for left-handed polarized wave_components.

  In addition to the above description describing the provision of different material compositions for the transport, there are additional mechanisms for adjusting the attenuation profile. In some embodiments, wave_component generation / modification may not be strictly “exchangeable” in response to the order of the elements of the modulator where the propagating radiation traverses from WAVE_IN to WAVE_OUT. In these examples, the attenuation profile can be modified by providing another ordering of the non-commutative elements. This is just one example of a configured attenuation profile. In other embodiments, different attenuation profiles are created when different “rotational biases” are established for each waveguide channel. As previously mentioned, some transports are configured with a predetermined orientation between the input polarizer and the output polarizer / analyzer. For example, this angle may be zero degrees (typically defining a “normally on” channel) or it is ninety degrees (typically defining a “normally off” channel) Good. A given channel may have different responses in various angular displacement regions (ie, zero to thirty degrees, thirty degrees to sixty degrees, and sixty degrees to ninety degrees). Different channels may be deflected into different displacement regions (eg, with a default “DC” influencer signal), which influences the propagation wave_component around this deflected rotation. This is just one example of an operational decay profile. There are multiple reasons to support having multiple waveguide channels and adjusting / adapting / complementing the attenuation profile for the channels. These reasons include labor savings, efficiency, and WAVE_OUT uniformity.

  When bundled by opposing polarization (selector) elements, a variable Faraday rotator or Faraday “attenuator” applies a field that changes in the direction of the optical path, and such a device reduces the polarization vector (eg, from 0 degrees). 90 degrees) so that an increasing portion of incident light that has passed through the first polarizer can pass through the second polarizer. When the field is not applied, the light passing through the first polarizer is completely blocked by the second polarizer. When the appropriate “maximum” field is applied, 100% of the light is rotated to the appropriate polarization angle and 100% of the light passes through the second polarizing element.

  FIG. 9 is a general schematic diagram of a simplified single panel waveguide based display 900 according to a preferred embodiment. The display 900 includes a housing 905 that houses the illumination source 910, a switching matrix 915, and a display surface 920. Source 910 provides balanced white light, or multiple channels of various colors / frequency in a multi-color model (eg, RGB source). The preferred embodiment uses a flexible waveguide channel (eg, optical fiber, etc.) for the source 910, matrix 915, and surface 920 that are integrated together as described below. Source 910 is either adjacent to matrix 915 or faces matrix 915. When adjacent, the fiber bundle transmits radiation to the input side of the matrix 915. Source 910 may include any of the radiation generation and feature / attribute control functions described in the incorporated patent application, including polarization control.

  Matrix 915 includes a plurality of guided channels for controlling the amplitude of radiation passing from its input proximity source 910 and output proximity display surface 920. Options for the structure and function of the matrix 915 are disclosed in detail in the incorporated patent applications. Matrix 915 may include not only influencer elements, but also optional tunable filters, some of which are integrated or stacked inline. These guided channels may include fibers, waveguides, or other channelized materials made from conventional materials or photonic crystals. Necessary channel isolation functions are used, including lateral deviations (such as the use of time-differential channels in three-dimensional space to sufficiently separate individual channels, or shield structures). Matrix 915 may include any of the radiation generation functions and feature / attribute control functions described in the incorporated patent application, including a polarization analyzer at the output. In some implementations, an overlay sheet with a periodic polarizer analyzer structure is used.

  Display surface 920 may only be an extension of a waveguide channel or another structure in matrix 915. Surface 920 has a series of implementations as described in the incorporated patent application, including, for example, faceplate formation and use and channel end modification. The structure at the input and output of the surface 920 has any of the radiation generation and feature / attribute control functions described in the incorporated patent application, including thin films, optical glasses, or other optical materials or structures. May include.

  FIG. 10 is a detailed schematic diagram of the display 900 shown in FIG. The illumination source 910 includes a light source 1005 and a polarization system 1010. Matrix 915 includes an attenuator / modulator structure 1015 having an integrated coil form with input 1020 and output 1025. Display surface 920 includes analyzer 1030, optional improved channel output 1035, and optional display surface / protective coating.

  FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of an addressing grid 1100 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. As described herein, as well as in the incorporated patent applications, the elements of display 900 are influencer systems for use in modulation models. The preferred embodiment provides the Faraday effect as at least part of the influencing system, and to achieve this goal, the display 900 uses a coil form for the generation of an appropriate magnetic field. An efficient addressing system improves manufacturing and operating requirements because there may be hundreds, thousands, or more elements having a coil foam structure. Addressing grid 1100 is an implementation of the preferred embodiment for an efficient addressing system.

  An addressing grid 1100 that may be constructed as a passive matrix or an active matrix is depicted in both forms in FIG. Grid 1100 includes an input contact 1105 and an output contact 1110 to create an in-waveguide circuit path 1115 through the coil form / influencer element. An optional transparent transistor 1120 element is included for the active configuration (not present in passive mode). The four quadrant schematic is only one possible embodiment of this approach. The important point is the relative scaling of the input fiber diameter versus chip network size. The size of the network dimensions must be small enough to pack the conductive lines in order to individually address each fiber input end. Spacing fibers may be held all the way down the fiber bundle to increase the spacing between the fibers when needed, or larger diameter fibers may be utilized. The preferred choice also depends on the size of the display or projection surface.

  In the passive matrix scheme, the “y” addressing line touches the outer conductive ring or point at the same fiber input end, while the “x” addressing line touches the point on the inner conductive ring or fiber input end. . The coil form or structure of the coil must be of general principles as depicted in FIG. 11 so that the contacts or points made on the inner ring are made to the coil form. The current then circulates through a spiral pattern around the winding or core. Then, an outer thin film tape made of sufficient insulation and thickness and wrapped around the coil foam is coated with a conductive material as a thin margin on the inner contact portion of the upper edge of the coil foam, and this Such a coating continues as a strip around the edge of the thin film tape, down the surface to the outer surface and terminates at the input end of the fiber. The resulting outer ring contacts are insulated and spatially separated from the inner ring contacts.

  As disclosed in the incorporated patent applications, thin film tapes are wound on fibers in a mass production process. The membrane is selectively perforated by microperforation to provide selected points of conductivity from the outside to the inside of the thin film, mask etching, laser, pneumatic drilling before printing or deposition of the conductive pattern Or other methods known in the art. Thus, when the conductive material is applied, in those areas with appropriately sized perforations, the conductive material is selectively accessed or contacted through the perforations. The perforations may be circular or have other geometric shapes, including lines, squares, and more complex shape combinations and more complex shape-size combinations.

  An alternative to provide selected conductive points inward from the outer layer of the fiber structure, i.e. cladding or coating is selectively performed with microperforation, prior to printing or deposition of the conductive pattern, By etching or other methods that require heating and stretching of thin cladding and collapse of cavities to produce elliptical holes elsewhere disclosed herein, or other methods known in the art Must be achieved. Thus, when the conductive material is applied, in those areas with perforations sized appropriately, the conductive material is selectively accessed through the perforations by applying the conductor in liquid or powder form. Or may be contacted and then cured or annealed.

  Also, instead of using a printed thin film, an insulating coating is applied to the fiber during its bulk manufacturing, but such a coating is masked or the fiber is coated with a thin terminal edge of the coil foam. Soaked in the liquid polymer type material only “up” to the input end of the fiber so that it remains untouched. Then, a second coating that is conductive is applied, which in this example extends all the way to the exposed conductive ends of the coil foam.

  In this way, the current is switched between a specific “x” line and a specific “y” line that addresses a specific subpixel with an external logic circuit in the grid region bonded to the fiber bundle. The current switched in the “x” coordinate sends a pulse of the appropriate current intensity to the fiber subpixel element. The pulse passes “up” through the coil form or coil, “down” through the external conductive strip, and continues down the circuit through the “y” conductive line, completing the circuit.

  In the single preferred embodiment shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, it is a preferred embodiment to provide the matrix 915 as a single sub-element. The incorporated patent application utilizes flexible optical waveguide weaving techniques to create one or more of these integrated components. In the preferred embodiment, a woven "X" addressing ribbon and a woven "Y" addressing ribbon are used.

  FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of an “X” ribbon structure fiber system 1200 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The fiber system 1200 includes a plurality of modulator segments each having an integrated influencer element 1210 to control the amplitude of individual channels as described herein and in the incorporated patent applications. 1205 included. Further, system 1200 includes a plurality of structural elements 1215 and / or spacer elements 1220 as further described below. System 1200 further includes a conductive “X” addressing filament 1225 and a conductive “Y” addressing filament 1230 for the X / Y matrix addressing system. The conductive element may be a metal or a conductive polymer material.

  The fibers and filaments are made with a precision three-dimensional jacquard weaving device, and the ribbon is woven as depicted in FIG. “Vertical” optical fibers that are color batches (along with optional “spacing” filaments that are also vertical) and are manufactured in bulk production runs according to the methods disclosed in the incorporated patent applications are structural strength requirements That is, two at the top and one at the bottom-the lower one becomes a conductive polymer microfiber that achieves the "x" addressing of each optical fiber-depending on a minimum of about four microfibers To be interwoven with structural fibers. Other conductive filaments or wires are also conceivable. In particular, Nanosonic, Inc. “rubber metal” materials or other materials coated or wrapped with the same, as well as other desirable in the tensile strength, elasticity, conductivity, and textile manufacturing paradigms It may be expected that filaments of materials or composites that provide the optimal combination of properties will be introduced commercially and will be superior to conventional metal wires for these purposes. Optionally, conductive filaments or fibers may be provided in addition to the two purely structural fibers.

  The need for an optional “spacing” filament is determined by the relative diameter of the fiber optic segments compared to the diameter of the subpixel, which is also determined by the size of the display and its resolution. A fiber diameter that is significantly smaller than the subpixel diameter is at least 1 unless multiple fibers are utilized per subpixel, as described in detail below, that is, unless another method is used, as also described below. Requires one or more spacing filaments. Adjacent Faraday attenuators / subpixels / pixel elements are not only separated by spacing elements, but also for isolating elements electrically or magnetically from each other if such isolation is desired It is thanks to the textile manufacturing paradigm that it may be displaced "vertically" from each other as an additional measure.

  In both the “x” addressed fiber and “y” addressed fiber cases, the superior “top” and “bottom” of the fiber (near the output and input ends) is excellent, as depicted. Contact is made. Coil forms or coils or other field generating elements that provide surface contact on the fiber. Since each fiber may function as a subpixel and each ribbon is woven with a fiber doped with only one dye, the number of vertical optical fibers is determined by the resolution requirements of the display in which they are specified, It will range from a hundred to thousands.

  After weaving the fiber and the addressing fiber structurally, leaving a gap between the upper and lower fixing points of the ribbon, the fixing adhesive may be applied to the ribbon before cutting. The structural fiber and the addressing fiber are hooked on either side with a removable tab in the frame. The ribbon is then properly tightened. Leaving the spacing between the ribbon rows may repeat the process, resulting in a long woven fabric run that may be de-loamed at the optimum length as determined by textile manufacturing standards. The resulting fabric is wound around the spindle by standard textile manufacturing methods. Once wound on the spindle or holding frame, the woven fabric is moved to another textile processing device where the ribbon is cut from one roll of long fabric. Vertical optical fiber and spacing fiber are split up and down. The splitting device may first apply heat to what would be the output end of the fiber optic element, combined with the tensioning on the fiber by the loom device as the heating and softening of the fiber is achieved, It produces efficient stretching and modulation of the fiber end shape. Thus, tapering or compression when the splitting device has a first heating bar constructed with rollers as contacts rotates at right angles towards the fiber axis, so that the splitting device moves parallel to the fiber axis, In this way, twisting or polishing of the fiber end is also achieved. Other similar mechanical pressure methods, heating methods, and forming methods may be explicitly applied to modify the shape and structure of the fiber end prior to splitting to achieve enhanced scattering and dispersion characteristics. Once split, the resulting ribbon may be wound on a spool.

  FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of a “Y” ribbon structured fiber system 1300 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The fiber system 1300 includes a plurality of modulators 1305 with one or more first structural filaments 1310 sandwiched therebetween and one or more structural filaments / spacers 1315 sandwiched therebetween. One or more “X” addressing ribbons 1320 as shown in FIG. 12 are used to provide an “X” address input to the modulator 1305, as shown, with the modulator 1305 and the filament / spacer. Woven between 1315. Conductive “Y” filament 1325 completes the X / Y matrix addressing. The combination of fiber system 1200 and fiber system 1300 results in a woven switching matrix.

  "X" composed of "longitudinal" structural filaments and "x" addressing filaments as well as hundreds or thousands of "vertical" monochromatic dye doped manufactured fiber Faraday attenuator elements The ribbon is then set in another precision jacquard loom and finally woven into the fabric switching matrix with a finished textile of hundreds or thousands of ribbons. Interlaced with parallel ribbons here is a "Y" structured filament as shown and "Y" addressing, which when woven into an "x" ribbon forms an equivalent "y" ribbon It is a filament. The optical fiber axis (its width) of the ribbon is set perpendicular to the plane of the “y” filament. Precise jacquard weave allows the gap between the upper and lower reinforcing filaments of the “X” ribbon to penetrate, resulting in a thin “x” ribbon forming the depth of the textile “matt”, the surface of which is a fiber optic Faraday attenuator Consists of the protruding “output” end of the element. Parallel to this “surface” are both the “X” ribbon structural filament and “bottom” addressing filament, and the “Y” grid structural filament and “top” addressing filament.

  Detachable “display frame” from Jacquard type loom adapted to the present invention becomes the structural frame of the display, fixing the addressing filament to the drive circuit and retaining the overall woven structure of the switching matrix To do. By weaving on both sides, Self-fixing allows the implementation of individual hooks or clamping devices at the end of each “x” and “y” row of the textile mat.

  Once woven and tightened, the removable frame of the textile mat is removed from the loom. This frame is used to secure the textile switching matrix in the final display case. The frame may be rigid or flexible, solid or textile, but is manufactured with either addressing logic (eg, transistors) or conductive elements in contact with the “X” and “Y” columns and stages, respectively. In addition, by weaving on the edges of the mat, the mat is self-fixed by standard means of textile manufacture, so that the mat is optionally removed from the loom and hooks or clamping elements are each "X" ribbon And fixed on both sides of the “Y” ribbon. The mat may then be hooked by these hooks or clamping devices, or may be fastened in the display case structure, with hook points or contacts for the “x” addressing filament and “y” addressing filament for the display device. May be in contact with the drive circuit. Once removed or while still in the loom, the resulting textile mat may be saturated with a sol so that it is convenient according to a number of options for textile manufacture, such a sol achieves a black matrix In order to be dyed black and UV cured. The sol then seals the textile lattice. The sol may be chosen to yield a textile mat that is flexible but sealed or has a rigid or semi-rigid structure and suitable insulating and / or shielding properties.

  Once cured, the additional sol or liquid polymer may be cured and spread over the sealed textile mat / switching matrix surface, one after the other as needed. The output and input end fiber optic elements extend beyond the horizontal filaments, anchor and address them, so that additional flexible or rigid or semi-rigid material is between the protruding ends of the optical fiber. It is desirable to fill the space. Forming a flat and flush output and input surface, such a film or sheet may be placed between the input end and the illumination source by other means, and on an external display optical glass or an output end comprising optical glass. Can be glued or fixed in place between any final optical component, but a polarizing film or sheet can be attached before the input end of the fiber optic Faraday attenuator element and after the output end.

  An alternative method for realizing a switching grid was to produce a textile mat structure without addressing filaments, saturated with sol and cured, additional liquid polymer smoothed the top layer, and a standard FPD addressing grid was printed The thin film is deposited by epitaxy or by other standard semiconductor lithographic methods.

  The switching matrix as a woven textile structural paradigm is derived from the exemplary commercially available equipment and process of Albany International Technology, especially the nanomanipulator system for microfibers and nanofibers and filaments. Microfabrication process equipment and methods commercially available from Zyvex for manipulation of textile types by, and microscale and nanoscale textile type manufacturing utilizing the Arryx optical tweezer method Applies to textile manufacturing machines. Such a method transforms the textile paradigm into the smallest possible scale assembly and component separately or advantageously in combination to achieve various types of “nano loom” systems.

  While the preferred “all fiber” textile woven fiber optic embodiment represents the best use of the structural and waveguide advantages of the fiber optic based magneto-optic display of the present invention, several unique advantages There are additional variations on how to assemble, fix and address the position of an optical fiber Faraday attenuator.

  FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of a preferred embodiment for the modular switching matrix 1400 used in the displays shown in FIGS. The matrix 1400 holds one or more of a plurality of modulators 1410, ie, two or more facing sheets that are preferably joined or locked together to form a gripper block 1415. Includes "gripper sheet". The gripper block 1415 includes a gripper-type stud connector 1420 for mating to a complementary receptacle 1425 that is also located within the gripper block 1415. By stacking sheets 1405 to form blocks 1415 and arranging / locking a plurality of blocks 1415, the entire matrix 915 is formed as further described below. Block 1415 includes an X / Y addressing matrix embedded for coupling to a plurality of modulators 1410. In addition to the stud / receptacle mounting system, other sheet-to-sheet / block-to-block connection systems such as grooves-flanges are utilized.

  In the present embodiment, a commercially available Corning Gripper technique including modifications described later is modified. Corning introduced its polymer gripper technology at the Optical Fiber Conference in March 2002 for gripping technology that allows the fiber to be snapped into place with submicron precision. It is a solution. Corning extended the functionality of the device to include holding and positioning larger components such as ferrules, GRIN lenses, and other optical elements of various geometries. An optical fiber manufactured by one of the novel methods disclosed above is split into convenient multi-elements (eg, multiple doped, coiled, batch manufactured segments).

  Optionally, a sheet of Corning Gripper is manufactured, but is placed in a liquid polymer perpendicular to the direction of the troughs, placed in a liquid polymer prior to curing, and suspended to be exposed at the bottom level of each trough. It is modified by including a filament (preferably a wire or stiff polymer). They are also positioned so that when the fiber is placed in the trough, the filament contacts the coil form or coil at either the input or output end of the Faraday attenuator element. The filaments are placed at a distance in a Corning gripper sheet that closely matches the periodic formation of the integrated Faraday attenuator structure in the fiber. Also, the holes are left in the gripper by wires that are later removed after curing. Such a hole is oriented at a right angle at the opposite end of the Faraday attenuator fiber optic element. In addition, on the back side of the gripper sheet, on the side opposite the trough, micro-alignment tabs are periodically formed in the gripper material to match the length of each Faraday attenuator of the fiber optic element. Also, on each side of each gripper sheet, there are alternating micro ridges / grooves or tabs / notches in the same plane as the channel so that when such sheets are placed side by side they are locked together.

  A plurality of optical fibers are loaded onto a Corning gripper sheet and rolled by an array of rubberized rubber in the gripper channel until the channel is filled. The mirror-corning gripper sheet is placed on top of the filled sheet and compressed to fit over the fiber by a rubberized roller array. These gripper sheets have indentations that are periodically formed in the back surface to accept a tab structure manufactured on the back surface of the lower sheet.

  A plurality of such Corning gripper sheet sandwiches are produced. The tab on the back side of the “lower” sheet is inserted into a notch on the back side of the “upper” sheet to achieve the same locking process achieved by the trough structure on the fiber itself. These multiple Corning Gripper Sheets are further layered together and glued together to complement the tab and notch locks, and two equal sized blocks with hundreds or thousands of fiber optic elements per side And the longer dimension coincides with the axis of the fiber. Once an appropriately sized stack of such sheets is assembled into blocks, preferably the number of sheets placed in the sheets are stacked and equal to the number of sheets to be bonded, the stack is periodically cut, Match the space between the periodic Faraday attenuator structures of the batch manufactured fiber. Segments thus sliced take the form of “tiles” that are mechanically collected once sliced and then transported and stored for combined use to form the display.

  Optionally, before each “tile” slice, conductive filaments are embedded in the gripper sheet to form an “x” addressing, which is very thin and, if necessary, coated with a thin film of lubricant The hollow needle penetrates at high speed through the continuous hole formed by the wire initially left in each gripper sheet during its manufacture. The conductive filament is inserted into an extremely thin needle and carried with it. The filament is held externally from the needle and remains, the needle retracts over its length, leaving no gripper “block”, but the needle is removed from the hole. When a slight pressure is applied to the gripper material, the filament is cut under the needle so that the elastic gripper material bounces and cuts at exactly the same height as the gripper surface at that point. The procedure is repeated along the next channel. In addition, a plurality of such needles may be utilized in a single perforation and filling mechanism to insert the filaments into multiple channels simultaneously. These conductive filaments form the “y” addressing of this optional implementation.

  The final switching matrix structure is completed with the laying and alignment of a sufficient number of square tiles to form the required display size. A laser sensor or array placed under a transparent lay-up pan may be used to ensure precise alignment of the tiles, but for each original pre-stacked and pre-sliced sheet. The alternating micro ridges / grooves or tabs / notches that are initially formed on both sides now form multiple ridges / grooves or tabs / notches on both sides of each tile, which allows the micro self-alignment of the tile on one axis. enable. In addition, the other two sides of each tile are also manufactured with self-locking elements, i.e. tabs / notches, so that the tile can be automatically locked / fit together on its axis. When a micro-alignment structure is optionally implemented, it ensures a continuous excellent contact between the embedded “x” and “y” addressing filaments.

  When embedded “x” addressing filaments and “y” addressing filaments are not realized as part of the gripper-based structure, the mesh or thin film layer with the engraved or attached switching matrix “X” and “y” at the bottom (in the case of “x” addressing) and at the top (in the case of “y” addressing) or (as disclosed in the incorporated provisional patent application) May be implemented with a combination of addressing. On one layer, precise alignment of the thin film on the integrated Faraday attenuator fiber optic element to the appropriate contacts must also be performed as disclosed in the provisional patent application. The transistors may be printed as specified elsewhere on the selected layer with addressing lines to achieve active matrix switching.

  FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram of a first alternative preferred embodiment for a modular switching matrix 1500 used in the displays shown in FIGS. 9 and 10. Matrix 1500 includes a solid layer 1505 that is mechanically filled with flexible waveguide channels 1510 each having periodic subunits that form modulator elements 1515. One or more mechanical needles 1520 appropriately “sewn” the desired pattern on the layer 1505, and a puncture system 1525 (eg, a precision mechanical fiber optic splitter breaks the waveguide channel into the modular element. The X / Y addressing matrix may be placed in or on layer 1505 to couple to individual modulators and to control individual modulators.

  Matrix 1500 includes a category of embodiments that include rigid or flexible solids provided as structural support for specially created flexible waveguide channels having a plurality of Faraday attenuator elements. Represents. Addressing may be made as part of the structure, or x and y addressing on the input and output surfaces, ie one layer, as the thin film or layer is specified in the previous embodiment. May be printed on both. The transistor may be printed on a predetermined layer to achieve active matrix switching.

  In the case of a flexible solid sheet with holes, at least two alternatives of filling the holes with Faraday attenuator fiber optic elements are practical. One method is to fill a plurality of rows or squares of holes in a batch, depending on the practical density crossing of attaching the punch structure with a plurality of needles, but a hollow needle that fills alternately or every other time An array of That is, the needle structure size is indeed larger than the hole, and the needle structure and needle must be filled because the needle must be filled with a fiber that is cut after drilling or with a pre-cut fiber segment. It may be necessary for the space between the superstructures to be filled with alternating holes. Batches of holes, such as every other or every other, are drilled and filled by pressure insertion of the fiber from the spool through the needle or pneumatic insertion of the pre-cut fiber segment through the needle. After the omitted batch of holes is filled, the computer controlled device moves to the next array of holes. Once the display is covered in this way and filled with holes every other, every second, every third, etc., the filling device resets and immediately next to the first filled row Start with a column. The batch filling and reset process is then repeated as many times as holes are omitted in batch filling.

  The second method utilizes a sewing device that inserts a continuous thread of optical fiber from which needles are batch manufactured. Again, the holes are omitted and the display switching matrix is sewn in multiple passes. However, after each pass, the continuous stitching fiber that passes under and above the solid sheet is cut and the fiber optic segments are separated and the cutting mechanism is kept vertically aligned with respect to the solid sheet. Deployed like bars and sharpened guillotine teeth. The flexible material of the solid sheet in this embodiment expands when either subtype of needle is inserted and rebounds to hold the fiber in place when the needle is removed.

  FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram of a second alternative preferred embodiment of a modular switching matrix 1600 used in the displays shown in FIGS. Matrix 1600 includes a layer 1605 having pre-formed openings / holes for receiving modulator segments. One or more extended waveguide channel resources 1615, each containing a periodic modulator structure, are processed (eg, by a precision splitting system) to produce a plurality of modulator segments 1620. These segments 1620 are attached in an alignment / insertion system 1625 that guides the appropriate segments 1620 to the desired location and inserts them into the appropriate openings 1610 as described below. Layer 1605 may include an X / Y addressing matrix as described herein.

  Matrix 1600 is an example of a rigid solid sheet with holes that fills the holes with Faraday attenuator fiber optic segments that have been pre-cut by a mechanical agitation process. In this way, the process is optimally scaled in the portion of the display column that is a large batch if the color subpixel columns are filled at the same time, or not at the same time, by the entire column. Multiple columns (which are alternatives to R, G, B) may be filled as described below in the same process at the same time.

  Optical fibers manufactured in accordance with the options disclosed above or variations thereof are fed from a plurality of spools down into a slotted tray that is set diagonally on a thin feeder trough that is also vertically slotted. . The splitting device cuts the fiber at the appropriate component segment, which slides down the groove and into the vertical groove of the feeder trough. The spool array then shifts to the side and is adjacent until either of the feeder troughs is filled equal to the number of subpixels in the row or until the optimal trough process size feeder trough is filled. Complete filling the set of grooves. The base of the feeder trough has a removable slot that exposes the hole in the lower part of the trough. The plurality of troughs may be part of a feeder trough batch process computer controlled manufacturing (CCM) device and may be filled by the process.

  The filled feeder trough or series of troughs having a plurality of fiber optic component segments in a vertical slot is disposed on a rigid sheet. Under the solid sheet are two arrays of very thin movable positioning guide wires or filaments, two layers of two “x” wires and two “y” wires per subpixel hole. They are held apart by spring tension. They are positioned to bundle segments that can fall into the hole. The holes are made to have a larger diameter than the fiber optic component segments and are effectively large in diameter to help easy passage of the fiber optic segments into the holes. A loom-type device holding a guide wire is set with the same diameter as the hole in the rigid sheet, but the wire is movable. The wire or filament is pulled and coated with a resin to provide a secure grip on the fiber segment that may be held by the mechanical side tension of the guiding wire to tighten. Below the guide wire is another transparent solid sheet under which the movable laser sensor array is deployed.

  At the same time, the trough starts agitating slightly laterally or with a slightly circular movement, while being placed in close contact with one or more rows, or just above the portion of one or more rows to be filled. After that, the slot or flap is moved to expose the hole. The fiber component segment agitated in this manner falls from the slot in the feeder trough and fills the underlying hole. Once the sensor array confirms the insertion of all the fiber component segments into the holes that are filled in a batch process, the guide wires are released, the spring tension brings them into contact with the fibers, straightens the fibers, and the top guide Thanks to being held just below the hole in the rigid material by the wire and the lower guide wire, each is coated with resin and places them in the center of the larger diameter hole in the rigid sheet. Next, the entire device holding the rigid perforated sheet, the guide wire system and the lower transparent sheet is rotated 180 degrees.

  Once the entire device has been rotated in this manner and the fiber component is suspended by a spring tension guide wire, liquid polymer material is injected into the perforated solid sheet, and the fiber optic component segment and the side of the perforation. Flow over the sheet to fill the gaps between them. This liquid polymer is then UV cured to fix the position of the fiber at the center of the perforation. The guide wire is then unwound.

  Rigid sheets are preferably addressed grids, passive matrices or active matrices in the past (preferably without or with transistors adjacent to each perforation on the side opposite to the side where the liquid polymer was injected and flowed) May have been engraved. Alternatively, the addressing circuitry may be printed or deposited by methods referenced or disclosed elsewhere in this document.

  FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram of a third preferred embodiment for the modular switching matrix 1700 used in the displays shown in FIGS. 9 and 10. Matrix 1700 includes a mesh structure filled with individual waved modulator segments. The switching matrix 1700 includes a plurality of metallized bands 1705 that form the mesh structure. The “X” band or filament of mesh 1710 and the “Y” band or filament of mesh 1715 produce the X / Y addressing matrix. The input contact 1720 provides input to an influencer mechanism (eg, coil form, etc.) of a transport component that is placed in space within the mesh structure.

  In this embodiment, an assembly process is disclosed for mechanically filling a flexible solid sheet as disclosed above and in the incorporated provisional application. However, with the use of flexible meshes, the pre-woven mesh also includes addressing strips or filaments that may further “bundle” the optical fiber components, thereby forming a multiband field generating structure or pseudocoil foam. It's okay. Cracks between mesh bands, strips or filaments, which may be formed of a plurality of woven layers, are filled in the same way as in a flexible solid sheet. Certain filaments or bands are made of a conductive polymeric material, or are made of a flexible synthetic material that is metallized or coated with a conductive material. The band of material is convenient in that one side may be coated separately from the other side.

  These filaments or bands may only be paired as a pair of “x” addressing wires and “y” addressing wires, and the coil form in this case is disclosed in the incorporated patent application or variations thereof. Manufactured according to one of the methods. However, optionally, addressing transistors on the “x” and “y” axes may switch the current to a band in a parallel filament or multilayer mesh as depicted. The interleaved "x" and "y" bands or filaments contact the fiber in a generally horizontal band to achieve multiple current segments perpendicular to the fiber axis. The modulation element is optionally square-cladding, manufactured at least in this switching matrix stage (utilizing two molds or adjustable molds in the pulling process as disclosed in the incorporated provisional application) When done, the band or strip is in contact with the doped cladding substantially continuously.

  In addition to the particular embodiment shown in FIG. 17 where the modulator elements are arranged in the X and Y addressing bands so that influencer control is coupled to the control signal, this Alternatives to the “mesh” implementation are possible. In particular, at least part of the influencer structure (eg coil form) is realized through textile binding, parallel logic drive bands (X addressing combined with field generation) from the side of the display, and part of the mesh structure Is done. In this way, the transport element may be loaded into the mesh and does not require precision alignment to contact from the mesh to the influencer contacts. This is shown in FIG. 17 where the coil foam structure 1725 is integrated into the mesh to receive the transport segment 1730. In the original embodiment of FIG. 17, the coil form 1725 and transport segment 1730 are integrated as described above.

  This embodiment utilizes a similar method of realizing a coil form through a switching matrix structure element such as that described above. However, this case has an additional advantage in that the weaving process wraps multiple conductive elements tightly around the Faraday attenuator optical fiber component, ensuring intimate contact around the circular cladding fiber. Has a point. This method is, of course, combined with one or more of the methods disclosed elsewhere in this document for the production of coil foam or coils integrated around a suitably manufactured optical fiber. It's okay.

  This variation includes a mesh or textile structure that effectively realizes multiple layers with respect to the length of the modulator fiber segment to achieve winding. There is a layer of mesh or fabric textile between the input “x” grid and the output “y” grid so that the photofilament is effectively “wrapped” around the pseudo-winding. Instead of being manufactured in the fiber structure / during the fiber manufacturing process, the coil foam is realized in a “thorough” textile structure. A kind of “spiral box” is achieved using four conductive segments of four layers of textile to achieve one “rotation”. The layers between the “bottom” or “X layer” and the “upper” or “y” layer are passive (in terms of the addressing matrix) in effect and are best realized with micro-striped filaments. The conductive portion is only the length of the fiber diameter and extends from the contact point of the (circular) fiber by the radius of the fiber plus the diameter of the conductive filament in the “lower” layer.

  FIG. 18 is an overall schematic diagram of a laterally integrated modulator switch / junction system 1800 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The system 1800 uses a pair of side ports in the waveguide (port 1815 in channel 1805, port 1820 in channel 1810) in the waveguide, described further below, and radiation in one waveguide channel 1805. Provides a mechanism to redirect the propagation of the current to the other side waveguide channel 1810. As described above and in the incorporated patent application, the first channel 1805 includes an influencer segment 1825 (eg, an integrated coil form), an optional first optional coupling region 1830, and A second optional coupling region 1835 is provided. Further, the first channel 1805 includes polarization 1840 and an associated analyzer 1845, and may optionally include a secondary influencer (not explicitly shown). The first channel includes a lateral polarization analyzer port 1850 in a portion of the first coupling region 1830 near the port 1815 provided in the second coupling region 1830. An optional material 1855 is provided surrounding the junction channel 1805 and channel 1810 to improve the amount of loss across the junction. The material 1855 may be a hardened sol having a desired refractive index, a nano self-organized special material, etc. to reduce signal loss and to help ensure that the required port 1815 and port 1820 alignment is obtained . Influencer 1825 controls the polarization of radiation propagation through first channel 1805 and the amount of radiation through port 1815 based on the relative angle of polarization compared to the transmission axis of analyzer port 1850. In the following, another structure and operation of the system 1800 will be further described.

  Ports 1815 and 1820 are guiding structures in the coupling region (s) implemented with the molten fiber stator or the like shown below and can include GRIN lens structures. These ports may be aligned precisely within the binding region, or may be spaced at regular intervals along the full length of the channel (or a portion of the full length). In some embodiments, an entire portion of one of the coupling regions has a desired attribute (polarization or port) structure and one or more structures in another coupling region at a junction location thereto. be able to.

  Polarizer 1840 and analyzer 1845 are optional structures that further control the amplitude of the radiation propagating to channel 1805. Polarizer 1840 and the analyzer include optional optional influencers for this segment and, together with influencer 1825, control the radiation between channels 1805 and 1810.

  Switching between fibers in such a microtextile configuration is as follows by a “lateral” (as opposed to “series”) variation of the integrated micro-Faraday attenuator fiber optic element disclosed herein. It is promoted as follows. The junction / contact point between orthogonally aligned fibers in the textile matrix is the location of a new type of “optical tap” between the fibers. In the first cladding of a fiber optic micro-Faraday attenuator according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the cladding (on the fiber axis outside the multiple Faraday attenuator portions of the fiber) is accompanied by a periodic refractive index change. Microstructured, polarization filtering (see fiber integral polarization filtering previously described, and NanoOpto subwavelength nanogrid in Somerset, New Jersey, 1600 Cotton Tail Lane) or asymmetric polarization (incorporated) (Referenced and disclosed in patent applications). In these portions, the refractive index is changed to be equivalent to the refractive index of the core (by ion implantation, electrical, heating, photoreactive, or other methods known in the art). (Alternatively, the entire first cladding is so microstructured and the refractive index is equal.) In addition to the inductive and polarization coupling achieved by the differential refractive index, the structural geometry (eg, photonic coupling and sub- Use of a wavelength hole cavity / grid system) is also within the scope of the present invention. For ease of explanation here, induction and coupling are described using differential refractive index, but in these cases, structural geometry is used (unless specifically stated otherwise). Can also be explained.

  Variations of this integrated Faraday attenuator disclosed herein include an optical tap from Gemfire, Fremont, California, 1220 Paige Avenue, where the waveguide itself collapses to couple the semiconductor optical waveguide. It is fundamentally distinguished from all prior art “light taps”. The collapse of the waveguide structure in the Gemfire implementation is an excellent component of any photonic or electrophotonic switching paradigm or network that ensures efficient transmission of optical signals between channels. It means destruction. Unlike other conventional types of “light taps”, “light taps” that do not require additional complex corrections to control non-inductive signals between core regions are simpler and more efficient Is self-explanatory.

  Thus, in contrast to other “light taps” in the prior art, the switching mechanism of the preferred embodiment is in activation of regions with poles, or activation of a single row of electrodes, to achieve a grating structure. Absent. Rather, the preferred embodiment uses a series Faraday attenuator switch that rotates through the core by the polarization angle of light propagation, and combines this switch with a cladding section that is effectively a polarizing filter to provide a precise signal. The controlled portion is diverted through lateral guiding structures in the cladding of the output and input fibers (or waveguides). The speed of the switch is not that of changing the chemical characteristics of the relatively wide area covered by the cathode and anode, but the speed of the Faraday attenuator.

  In order to implement the total internal refraction within the core (and optionally the first cladding), the second cladding (which is also optionally with the first cladding) has a sufficiently different index of refraction (integrated) One or two structures are fabricated (on the axis of the fiber outside the Faraday attenuator section).

  First: a method provided in a second cladding and having an optical axis perpendicular or nearly perpendicular to the fiber axis, and referred to elsewhere herein and in incorporated patent applications Refractive index profile (GRIN) lens structure manufactured according to Since the focal path is oriented at a right angle with respect to the optical fiber axis or at a slightly deviated angle, the light passing through the GRIN lens from the first channel 1805 is combined with the second channel 1810 at the contact point. Either inserted perpendicular to the axis of the second channel 1810 or inserted into the second channel 1810 at a right angle in a suitable direction.

  Second: having the same refractive index as the core (and optionally the first cladding), ion implantation, application of voltage between electrodes during the manufacturing process, heating, photoreactivity, or other means known in the art Simpler optical channel manufactured by. The axis of this simple waveguide channel may be at a right angle or at a slight offset from the right angle, as with the other options described above.

  The operation of this micro-Faraday attenuator-based “optical tap”, or more precisely the “transverse fiber-to-fiber (or waveguide-to-waveguide) Faraday attenuator switch” is activated integrated Go through the microfaraday attenuator section and “leak” (in the fiber “by known operation of the optical tap”, or more precisely, through the first cladding, in the GRIN lens structure in the second cladding, or Achieved when the polarization angle is rotated by being guided into a simpler optical channel and coupling into the second channel 1810 from either output channel.

  The second channel 1810 couples light received from the first channel 1805 by a parallel structure (GRIN lens or cladding waveguide channel in the second cladding) into polarization filtering or non-asymmetric cladding, then From there it is manufactured to optimally couple into the core of the second channel 1810. As described above, a cured sol having a differential refractive index that is impregnated into the textile structure, confines the light guided between the fibers (or between the waveguides), and ensures coupling efficiency, is fiber to fiber. Surrounds the matrix.

  Another advantage and novel method of the cladding microstructure can be achieved by the specification describing a new improvement of the MCVD / PMCVD / PCVD / OVD preform manufacturing method, the preferred examples of which are described hereinafter. is doing. Also, this preferred embodiment is not limited to fiber-to-fiber switching, even if another type of waveguide is constructed as shown here, the waveguides disposed within a shared substrate, or Comprehensive waveguide-to-waveguide switching can be obtained, including between independent waveguides.

  FIG. 19 is an overall schematic diagram showing a series of manufacturing steps of the transverse integrated modulator switch / junction 1800 shown in FIG. The manufacturing system 1900 has a number of waveguide channels (eg, as described in the incorporated provisional patent application and other fused fiber faceplates) with a thin section 1910 with the block 1905 removed. Including formation. Section 1910 is softened and prepared to form stator wall sheet 1915. Sheet 1915 is wound to form a silica stator tube 1920 for producing a desired preform that can be drawn.

  According to this new method, the silica tube to which smoke is attached in order to increase the preform has a cylinder shape manufactured by winding and melting a thin film of a molten fiber cross section. This is done in order to achieve a thin fiber section grating, optionally with different characteristics selected to suit the appropriate doping characteristics in the cladding and core, with different refractive indices and different electro-optic properties. The optical fibers in which the fibers optimized differently are alternately arranged are melted, and a section of the melted fiber matrix is cut into a thin film. Next, the thin wall cylinder suitable for a stator for manufacturing a thin preform by a known preform manufacturing process by uniformly heating and softening these films and bending them around a heated molding pin. Is achieved.

  The fiber dimensions employed in the molten fiber membrane are selected to be the optimum dimensions of the completed transverse structure in the cladding where the fiber is drawn. In general, however, fibers for this purpose effectively increase the structural diameter during drawing from preforms made of fiber, so that the smallest possible manufacturing dimensions (core and cladding) ). In fact, such fiber diameters are too small in cross section for single mode use as an independent fiber. However, by properly combining the choice of fused fiber section or slice thickness, the continuous patterned transverse waveguide structure dimensions within the finished drawn fiber cladding can be The structure can be controlled to have the desired (single mode, multimode) “core” and “cladding” dimensions.

  To more reliably obtain the appropriate dimensions for the microstructure, a smaller fiber combination is melted, softened, drawn, then melted again with other fibers, and finally the fiber array is melted to a certain length. Then, it is cut into a film for forming a cylinder.

  In order to facilitate flexibility in realizing this fiber-to-fiber deformation of the integrated Faraday attenuator device of the present invention, both are at the relative “input” end and the relative “output” end (in this case, invertible) The polarization section in the core and the first cladding of the first channel are in accordance with the methods referenced and disclosed in the incorporated patent application, or by known electrode structures fabricated on the intermediate / inner cladding Can be triggered switchably by means of a UV excitation according to the method described above, which is disclosed and referenced in incorporated patent applications by means of devices manufactured between or within the cladding. And according to the method. In the case of an electrode structure, polarization filtering or switching of the asymmetric state can be described as electro-optical, and in the case of a UV signal it can be described as “all-optical”. A UV activated variant is the preferred embodiment.

  As such, polarization filtering or asymmetric sections of such cores and claddings can be referred to as “transients” and are described in US Pat. No. 5,126,874 (submitted on July 11, 1990. Method and apparatus for making ent optical elements and circuits ", the disclosure of which is hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Together with the integrated Faraday attenuator as a variable intensity switching element can be started or stopped, “on” or “off”.

  Since the first cladding may have the same refractive index as the core as described above and the second cladding may have a different refractive index, confinement to the “wrong” polarization core This can be achieved by only polarization filtering or asymmetric structures. The normal setting for the first cladding is “on” to confine the light in the core by a modified filter, or direct the light into the core and the first cladding and confine it only by the second cladding before the electrode or UV It can be either “off” which is sectioned where the activation element is structured and can be switched to the opposite setting.

  One way to characterize the operation of a microtextile three-dimensional IC is a transversely structured waveguide channel, which includes a micro-inductive structure within or between claddings, and a cladding. IC elements and transistors integrated with the channel in and between the cladding, and integrated series and transverse Faraday attenuator devices manufactured as intermittent elements of the structure, and this The waveguide channel can be provided as a bus with a wavelength-division multiplexed (WDM) type multimode pulse in the core, and can be switched in series or any signal by means of an integrated Faraday attenuator. Some or all of the pulses pass through the transverse guiding structure in the cladding and The semiconductor and photonic structure in loading, further to cross the inter-fiber acting as a bus or other electro photonic components.

  Some channels may be nanoscale, single mode with single elements structured within or between claddings, or may be larger in diameter, multi- or single mode ( It is effectively manufactured between and within the cladding, with a large number of semiconductor (electronic or photonic) elements (in the vicinity of the microprocessor). Channels can function as buses, individual switching or memory elements in any size and combination of micro-structured IC elements placed in their own fiber or within the entire microtextile architecture. it can. Thus, switching or the like occurs in the fiber core, between the core and the cladding, between the elements in the cladding, and in the fiber.

  Harvard University's Eric Mazur, Limin Tong, et al. Have an atomic level surface smoothness and 2-5 times the tensile strength of spider silk. The demonstration of a 50 nm “optical nanowire” produced by a simple process of pulling at a relatively high speed is then very suitable for realization in a microtextile structure. Near-infrared visible wavelengths were induced within this subwavelength diameter, which is a variation of the fiber optic waveguide type, but rather than confining it in the core, about half of the induced light passes through the interior. And another half gradually disappeared along the surface. Light can be coupled with low loss by optical evanescent coupling between fibers.

  Interpolate between such optical nanowires via the injected sol, polarization boundary / filter cladding and coating, as disclosed in the incorporated patent application, or by any other means, then Manipulating this through a modification of the integrated modulator (eg Faraday attenuator) device provides a more simplified switching / junction device between paths. Microtextile IC structures are particularly facilitated by the properties of optical nanowires due to their flexibility that allows them to be bent, twisted and tied at right angles.

  A supporting study on the production of “optical wires” of several tens of microns in diameter by Kerry Vahala of The California Institute of Technology, and related work by Vahala, also included ultra-compact with silica microbeads and micron-scale optical wires. Ultra-low threshold Raman lasers have also been shown to be very effective for microtextile structures. Microbeads interspersed within the microtextile structure are held in place by the microtextile structure elements, coupled with optical wires, and provide additional options for signal generation and manipulation within a three-dimensional IC configuration Be made.

  Due to the nature of series and transverse Faraday attenuator switches / junctions combined optimally with photonic and electronic switching elements, fiber-to-fiber and cladding, etc., but polarization state against optical pulse conditions A new method is proposed to realize binary logic by means of optical signals that only change. This incorporates in this binary logic system an “always-on” light path that can only be manipulated and detected by means of a signal polar angle whose logic state can change at very high speeds. Variations of the disclosed integrated Faraday attenuator device deployed in mixed electronic / photonic microtextile IC configurations introduce various possibilities to improve the speed and efficiency of microprocessors and optical communication operations. However, such a binary logic scheme can be realized. Of course, a multi-state logic system (e.g., a logic system that relies on two or more logic “levels”) can be implemented by using multiple polarization angles. The system uses one logical system during one operational mode or phase and switches to another logical system during another operational mode or phase and then redirects to the original logical system or subsequent It can be dynamically configured to switch to yet another logic system in a different mode or stage.

  These illustrative examples are intended to establish broad applicability of the novel textile structures and switching configurations according to this display invention, including wavelength division multiple switching matrices, LSI, VLSI IC designs that optimize photonic and semiconductor electronic elements. Those skilled in the art who are functional and familiar with the art will understand that the novel methods, components, systems, and configurations are not limited to the examples disclosed in detail.

  FIG. 20 is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of a textile matrix 2000 that can be used as a display, display element, logic device, logic element, memory device, or the like. Matrix 2000 includes a plurality of waveguide channel filaments 2005, optional structure / spacer elements braided with “X” structured filament 2015, “X” addressed structured filament or ribbon 2020, “Y” addressed / structured filament 2025 2010 is included.

The switching / modulation “matrix” structures and assemblies have a number of advantageous mechanisms for holding the waveguide elements in structural combination and electrically addressing each sub-pixel or pixel. In the fiber optic case, inherent to the nature of the fiber component is the potential for an all-fiber textile structure and proper addressing of the fiber element. A flexible mesh or solid matrix is an alternative structure with an accompanying assembly method. A preferred embodiment of a switching matrix for a flat panel display is an assembled array (eg, assembled textile) of integrated fiber optic attenuator devices, effectively in the form of a large integrated optical device. The manufactured silica-based waveguide can also be combined with other fibers and preform materials in a new preform stage and knitted or combined into larger, complex fiber, cable, or textile structures (2003). See, Freitas et al., US Pat. No. 6,647,852, “Continuous Intersected Braided Composite Structure and Method of Making Same” filed November 18, (In fact, this is hereby expressly incorporated by reference.)
Further details on the capabilities of the schematic switching paradigm disclosed herein can be found in a three-dimensional lattice textile method suitable for manufacturing a switching matrix according to embodiments of the present invention and a transistor in an “active matrix” switching paradigm And the disclosure of a method for integrating the fiber structure itself. In a preferred embodiment, the fiber optic element is held and assembled as a “switching mechanism” or as a textile structured element forming a matrix. Thus, the switching structure that holds and addresses the fiber optic element is arranged as a flat surface parallel to the illumination system at the relative rear of the device and parallel to the display surface at the relative front of the device. In another preferred embodiment, a jacquard loom type textile manufacturing process is described. This textile-type assembly of fiber optic elements uses the latest precision jacquard loom textile manufacturing system (Albany International Techniwave as a reference for commercial examples) to preserve and expand its optical characteristics. To be achieved) by woven waveguide channels. The steps involving the formation of “X” ribbons and “Y” ribbons are described above.

  A switching matrix in the form of a textile mat ready to be assembled into a display casing / structure, either by placing and fixing a frame (rigid or flexible) removable from the jacquard loom, or for each color subpixel column In place and fixed by means of hooks or fixing devices provided for the. In the case of a detached frame, the frame itself is within this “passive matrix” option to address each of the “x”, “y” columns sequentially for the entire switching matrix, or each is continuous. The logic required to be aligned within the sector addressed to the subpixel information and the rotation of each subpixel Faraday attenuator element is required for a given video display “frame”. It is preferably incorporated by appropriately modulated pulses of variable current that carry large amounts of current efficiently. The manufacture of this logic can be done by standard semiconductor or circuit board lithographic or printing systems and processes, or by immersion pen nanolithography as described in patent applications incorporated or incorporated elsewhere in this description. It is by the method of including. Alternatively, the removable frame can be manufactured simply by printing the conductive strip and then contacting it with logic manufactured on the “inner” frame location in the display casing / structure.

  Transistors to control each sub-pixel of the display, as opposed to implementing the above-described “passive” matrix where each sub-pixel is addressed by switching xy rows and columns through xy-axis transistors. The impediment to achieving is nevertheless advantageous to achieve optimal performance of the modulator / switching component, assuming the current Verde constant of the material favorable to the fiber dopant. is there. In the case of an “active matrix” situation, transistors and other active devices including semiconductors are integrated into the waveguide / textile matrix. Details of forming transistors and active devices are disclosed in the incorporated provisional and related patent applications.

  The semiconductor structure is manufactured between claddings, in the cladding, and in the coating, so that the waveguide structure can be used for the core and the waveguide structure with the core embedded therein can be used. Use different circuit structures and schemes between external points across the fiber body via various means (including radial doping profiles that form conductive microfilaments) by making the solid fiber structure another microstructure It becomes possible to do. Waveguide solid-state IC microstructures, including fibers, are clearly not limited to transistors, capacitors, resistors, coil forms, or other electronic semiconductor structures, but in practice, And provides a realistic paradigm for optoelectronic integration, as evidenced by the methods, apparatus, and components disclosed elsewhere in the incorporated patent applications. As such, the novel integrated (micro) modulator / switching / photonic waveguide device disclosed herein can also be disclosed as an example of a new generally applicable integrated optoelectronic IC device.

  Not only can electronic semiconductor features be manufactured within and between claddings, but any electrophotonic or optoelectronic device can be manufactured as described above and fiber to modify the channeled light within the fiber core. Integrally aligned within, constrained to cladding by mode or other option, or manufactured in a preform drawing process, or manufactured as an auxiliary guiding structure in a primary fiber cladding / coating structure It can be an element of such an integrated IC device that is further channeled in a surface helical channel manufactured as a semiconductor waveguide channel. The photonic bandgap structure may be manufactured in or between claddings by the methods referenced and disclosed herein, or in incorporated patent applications, or by other methods known in the art. The result is a composite fiber structure including a standard fiber core and cladding, or a photonic crystal-based fiber structure, on which another cladding and coating is fabricated.

  In particular, electrostatic self-assembly of nanoparticles produced by continuous dipping in a suitable solution is suitable for efficient and mass production of fiber-based structures. A further advantageous manufacturing method, particularly useful for curved fiber surface shapes, is commercially available from Molecular Imprints, Inc. This manufacturing paradigm has the trademark “Step and Flash” imprint lithography, which allows it to adhere to liquid imprint fluids that are flash UV cured (in this case, curved fiber shapes by surface tension). Submicron alignment of “nanoimprint” molds, replicating mold nanostructures of sufficient viscosity), can be produced at room temperature. This step process is well suited for patterning curved shapes in relatively flat sections and further provides a potentially low cost manufacturing alternative. Light guided in the core, constrained in the cladding, or guided in an auxiliary, smaller semiconductor structure can be activated by influencer (s), eg by Faraday rotation, photonic simulation Of photorefractive doping of fibers to allow optimized, guided Bragg gratings and other structures, electro-optics of fiber structures (cores and claddings) to realize gratings and other structures Furthermore, other photonic switching and modulation methods can be advantageously implemented as elements of complex composite fiber based IC structures.

  A semiconductor manufacturing method comprising a fiber extending over the power of paradigms known in the art, realization of preform drawing, other batch fiber manufacturing processes, and epitaxial growth, ion bombardment batch processing, or electrostatic self-assembly It is illustrated by preferred embodiments and implementations of the invention and further developed as disclosed herein within the context of textile structures such as multiple IC fiber electro-optic devices. In order to adapt to the shape of the fiber as a self-substrate in IC manufacturing, the optical shape for semiconductor lithographic and other adjustments to the patterning method (particle beam direction orientation) known in the art are technically This can be done effectively by standard modifications of known optical elements and focusing elements.

  The advantages gained in all the novel methods disclosed and incorporated herein for manufacturing optoelectronic devices on structural elements of adjacent three-dimensional textile mat / matrix are pixel element configuration, process to adjacent elements Shielding and miniaturization of step dispersion, reduction of the number of process steps per element in the textile mat / matrix, and generally the use of 3D topologies for wider spatial efficiency of optoelectronic or photonic switching designs Is an option.

  In the fiber mass production process, the fiber is drawn, variously doped and processed as disclosed herein to achieve the following: optically active core, dye doped Magnetization perpendicular to the axis of the core, fiber, can be optionally doped, permanent magnetized internal cladding, magnetized and demagnetized, and its hysteresis curve can be either a video frame cycle or memory Cladding, twisting, or adding a conductive pattern to the cladding, or film, coated silica fiber, conductive, doped with any iron / ferromagnetic material suitable for maintaining rotational power during the access cycle Fiber, either by structural packaging with conductive structures such as polymers, etc. Coil forms or coils capable of receiving a pulsed current of sufficient frequency to produce a magnetic field that is manufactured within the structure and magnetizes the doped outer cladding, or a magnetic field generating element, the same variety An optional transistor that is also manufactured as a structural element by the method and combined with other structural elements to achieve an active matrix for display. The doping and structure of the composite fiber structure may be periodic or continuous with respect to at least a particular dopant or structural feature, allowing for long-term, low-cost operation of typical fiber manufacturing. If the coil foam is efficiently continuous (continuous twisting or inlaying wire, etc.), the coil foam functionality is later selected by accurately selecting a portion of the coil foam by contact point. The portion of the continuous structure that becomes accurately accessible and beyond the contact point becomes non-functional and inactive in connection with the operation of the device.

  The fiber manufacturing process continues to evolve, particularly in relation to manipulation of doping concentration and dopant profile, periodic doping of the fiber during manufacturing operations, and other improvements. U.S. Patent No. 6,532,774 issued on March 18, 2003 to Zhang et al., "Method of Providing High Level of Rare Earth Concentrations in Glass Fiber Preforms "illustrates an improved process for co-doping multiple dopants. (Thus, in effect, the '774 patent is hereby expressly incorporated by reference in its entirety.) Due to the successful increase in dopant concentration, the linear Verde constant of the doped core and further the nonlinear hardening of the doped core. The performance that promotes is improved in direct proportion.

  Finally, an optical fiber mass production mode allows for the construction of a large number of defects in a structured fiber, allowing the attachment of fiber components and marking and discarding of the fiber's long-term operation defects in the weaving process. The inspection status of the element becomes possible. This avoids a significant defect rate and the rejection rate of large semiconductor processing based LCDs and PDPs caused by this.

  Each RGB channel on the fiber is provided with precise contacts for three “x”, “y” addressing points. Accurate contact and alignment is aided by the larger dimensions of this three-channel fiber structure, but in any event, this is to obtain excellent contact at different locations along the fiber component segment. Accomplished by modification of the all-fiber textile assembly method employing “x”, “y” filaments with multiple levels of structural and addressing, or by other methods disclosed elsewhere herein. Is done.

  These preferred embodiments of the present invention disclosed above are either rigid or flexible with a system, its components, methods of manufacture and assembly, and a very thin and compact, very low manufacturing cost structure, Thanks to an advantageous driving mode possessing excellent viewing angle, resolution, brightness, contrast and generally excellent performance characteristics.

  The described structure and method can be used as a three-dimensional fabric (woven) as needed to assemble components of a fiber optic-based magneto-optic display that incorporates Faraday attenuation and color selection integrated with fiber optic elements. It should be clear to those skilled in the precision textile art that it does not fill the scope of this embodiment of the present invention, including all variations in switching matrix textile manufacturing.

  In order to develop the previous observations made on the significance of the invention of the integrated fiber optic optoelectronic component device disclosed by the present invention, such an integrated auxiliary component three-dimensional textile assembly is provided. It is very significant to propose another paradigm for integrated optoelectronic or electrophotonic calculations. This has direct use as a switching matrix for waveform division multiplexing (WDM) systems, and more broadly as another IC paradigm for LSI and VLSI scaling. As such, the disclosure of the preferred embodiment apparatus and method of manufacture has a wide variety of applications in nature. Of course, this preferred embodiment can be paraphrased in other ways with strong implications as follows.

  That is, the textile optical waveguide matrix can also be defined as “a three-dimensional waveguide / fiber optic textile integrated circuit device configured to form a display output surface array”. An example of the application of the present invention outside of the strict display field is a textile optical waveguide matrix configured as a field programmable gate array. The combination of advantages of 3D textile shapes for integrated elements is shown below: optimized photonics and electronics combinations realized according to their strengths respectively; high tensile strength for both semiconductor and photonic elements IC potential of the waveguide as a self-substrate with a substrate, in particular a fiber optic waveguide, which realizes a wide range of "monolithic" structures in detail, wrapping around the photonic core to form a continuous surface Multi-layer cladding and coatings; all these efficiencies, together with the cost advantages of producing textile fabrics for forming electrical / optical style blocks, the patent application incorporated, with the advantages of high-volume batch production of fibers Of the flat surface semiconductor wafer paradigm disclosed in Suggest alternatives.

  This new paradigm introduced by the preferred waveguide channel (e.g. optical fiber) embodiment of the present invention allows for the coupling of optical fibers and other conductive IC structured fibers and filaments in a three-dimensional microtextile matrix. To do. Larger diameter fibers as disclosed elsewhere herein may have a fully microprocessor device between and within the integrally manufactured cladding. Smaller fibers may have smaller IC devices. And since photonic crystal fibers and other optical fiber structures, particularly single mode fibers, approach nanoscale diameters, individual fibers may integrate several IC functions / elements along their cylindrical length. Only.

  Complex microtextile matrices are thus woven with diameter-changing waveguides (eg, optical fibers) containing nanofibers that are conductive or structural, combined with other filaments, and periodic IC elements may be manufactured with inter-cladding or internal cladding. The fiber can be an element of a larger photonic circulator structure and can be fused or re-wired into a micro-optical network.

Such microtextile matrix waveguides may be manufactured with equal refractive index cores and claddings, including transparent IC structures, including coil forms / electric field generating elements, electrodes, transistors, capacitors, etc. As a result, the woven textile structure may be injected with a sol that possesses the required differential refractive index during UV curing so that the interfiber / interfilament sol replaces the individual cladding during solidification.
This procedure may be further developed by continuously saturating the microtextile structure with a bath of electrostatic self-assembly of nanoparticles. The loom operation to separate the filament strands facilitates fiber and filament patterning during weaving, but in some implementations, the patterning prior to weaving or the fibers or filaments are in a semi-parallel combination The patterning at the time may be more flexible. Through these methods, and other methods known in the art of materials processing, the potential to control the structure of the inter-fiber sol, and thus optical tapping and photonic bandgap switching (2001) between fiber junctions. See, Patent Application No. 6,278,105 to Mattia, issued August 21, 1980, “Transistor Customizing Photonic Band-and-Integrated Circuit Devices Compiling Same Same”, here on the whole. Are clearly incorporated by reference), and their applicability is wide.

  In addition, the function of an integrated modulator / switch waveguide (eg, Faraday attenuator optical fiber) that also serves as a memory element in such an IC structure includes cache implementation in LSI and VLSI scale structures. There are implications. Field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) also provide a parent area for implementing this IC configuration paradigm. As the maximum bend angle without losing optical fiber corrugation increases, the complexity of microtextile structures woven with waveguides / optical fibers and other microfilaments has increased, recently reported deep-sea organisms. The study on the properties of thin capillary optical fibers grown by clarified light guiding structures that can be twisted and bent until the doubling back point is reached. As such, the three-dimensional weaving of the microtextile IC system type disclosed herein includes non-linear weaving (eg, a compound curved three-dimensional weaving exemplified by complex woven turbine structures known in the art). In addition, in general, the microtextile device classes disclosed herein, and methods of manufacturing the same, encompass the full range of known and developed precision three-dimensional weave shapes.

  Further development of microtextile paradigms with small diameter fibers and filaments continues to evolve through the use of commercially available nanoassembly methods, and these nanoassembly methods include, in particular, their nanomanipulator technology, “Loom” system can be realized, manufactured by Zyvex Corporation, or manufactured by Aryx, whose nanoscale optical tweezers are also suitable for the microfabrication manufacturing process, and optionally the operation is Albany Combining Zyvex nanomanipulators in an efficient mechanical / optical weaving paradigm, patterned at the micro or nano scale, with the methods and equipment illustrated by Techiweave Kill.

  The known 1000: 1 speed difference between light traveling in an optically transparent medium and electrons in a conductive medium implies a degree of freedom in structured electronic and photonic elements, and this microtextile Alleviates some of the constraints on concentration only on the reduction of the size of the semiconductor structure made possible by the IC architecture-ultimately allowing an optimal mix of electronic and photonic switching and circuit path elements. In this way, other fibers may be very small in diameter and incorporate only a few electronic components, while some fibers have larger diameters to support a greater number of semiconductor elements and internal cladding. Some fibers are only “all-optical” components. Maximizing the many “path elements” that are photonics, and thus enabling smaller microprocessor structures made with optimal-scale fibers connected by photonic paths, is a logical possibility of optimization. It is a result.

  The implied microtextile IC “cube” (or other three-dimensional microtextile structure) thus combines any number of combinations of larger and smaller optical fibers and other filaments, conductive microcapillaries. May be included, filled with a circulating fluid to provide cooling to the structure, purely structural (structured by a fiber microstructured with semiconductor elements) and conductive (or microstructured internal cladding). Conductive coatings with padding, electrons and photonics).

  Preferred “all-fiber” textile woven fiber optic embodiments present the best of the structural and waveform guidance benefits of fiber optic based magneto-optic displays according to the present invention, each with several There are further applications of assembly methods, position locking methods, and methods of directing waveguide modulator / switching elements that have the following advantages:

  In some embodiments, the preferred embodiment weaving / textile system can produce clothing quality fabrics with the optical / waveguide / switching / photonic / IC functions described above. This preferred embodiment is an application derived from a textile textile flat surface display paradigm. Ancillary applications of the present invention include details of junctions woven continuously between textile switching “fabric” sections.

  In general, the performance attributes of transports, modulators and systems embodying aspects of the present invention include: Subpixel diameter (including electric field generating elements adjacent to optically active material): preferably <100 microns, more preferably <50 microns. (In the alternative embodiment described above, multiple light channels doped with dye are realized in one composite waveguide structure to achieve a net reduction in RGB pixel dimensions). The length of the subpixel element is preferably <100 microns, more preferably <50 microns. For a single subpixel, drive current to achieve effective 90 ° rotation: 0 to 50 m. Amps. Response time: Generally very fast for a Faraday rotator (ie 1 ns is proven).

  Note that as a basic understanding of the overall display power requirement, the actual power requirement of the preferred embodiment is not necessarily calculated based on a linear multiplication of the maximum current required for 90 ° rotation over the total number of subpixels. is important. The actual average and peak power requirements must be calculated taking into account the following factors: That is, gamma and average color subpixel usage, both well below 100%. The average rotation is therefore significantly below 90 °. Gamma: Even computer monitors that use all subpixels to display a white background do not need a maximum gamma per subpixel, and for that matter, no subpixels. Because of space, a detailed review of the science of human visual cognition is not possible. However, what is essential for proper image display is the relative intensity, pixels and subpixels across the display (considering the basic display brightness required for viewing at varying ambient light levels). Maximum gamma (or close to it), and 360 ° rotation (whatever the operating range is, 90 ° or some fraction thereof is, for example, a direct shot into a bright light source, such as when shooting directly into the sun, etc. It will be needed only in certain cases, including those that require the most extreme contrasts, thus the average gamma for the display will be some portion of the maximum possible gamma statistically That's why the Faraday rotation is not the maximum for a comfortable display of a stable “white” background on a computer monitor.In summary, the default Faraday attenuator that drives the default sub-pixel is at full rotation. There is rarely a need, and therefore rarely requires full power.Color: Only pure white is equal to the RGB sub-pixel in the cluster. It must be noted that, for either color or grayscale images, it is some part of the display's sub-pixels that are processed at one time, as either a color image or a grayscale image. The additively formed colors imply the following: Some color pixels require only one (either R, G or B) (with varying brightness) sub-pixels to be “on” And some pixels require two sub-pixels (with varying brightness) to be “on”, and some pixels have three sub-pixels (with varying brightness) “on” Pure white pixels require that all three subpixels be “on” and their Faraday attenuators are of equal brightness Rotated to achieve (color and white pixels can be paralleled to reduce color saturation. In an alternative embodiment of the invention, additional sub-pixels in the “cluster” are more efficient for saturation. It can be a balanced white light to achieve proper control.

  Considering the requirements for color and grayscale imaging sub-pixel clusters, in the case of an average frame, there is some part of every display sub-pixel that actually needs to be addressed, although it is “on” to some extent. If so, it is clear that the average brightness is significantly below the maximum. This is simply a function of the subpixel in the RGB additive color scheme and is a factor added to the consideration of absolute gamma.

  Statistical analysis can determine the power desire profile of the FLAT active matrix / continuous addressing device for these considerations. In any case, it is well below the virtual maximum of each subpixel of the display in full Faraday rotation at the same time. Not all subpixels are “on” for a given frame, and their “on” brightness is usually some fraction of the largest relative size for various reasons. Current requirements, ie 0 to 50 m. Of rotation from 0 ° to 90 °. For amps, the minimum specification is considered. The current range of the example of rotation from 0 ° to 90 ° was the default (0 to 50 m.amps) from the performance specification of the existing Faraday attenuator device, but this performance specification is provided as a minimum, for optical communication It is also important to note that it has already been clearly replaced and overtaken by the highest standards of reference equipment. Most importantly, it does not reflect the novel embodiments specified in the present invention, including the benefits from improved methods and material technology. Performance improvements have continued since the achievement of the quoted specification, and if something has accelerated and continues to accelerate, this range will be further reduced.

  The systems, methods, computer program products and propagated signals described herein are, of course, eg central processing units (“CPU”), microprocessors, microcontrollers, system on chip (“SOL”), or It may be embodied in hardware in or coupled to any other programmable device. Further, the system, method, computer program product, and propagated signal may be configured to store software, eg, software (eg, computer readable code, disposed in a computer usable (eg, readable) medium). The program code, the source language, the object language, and / or instructions and / or data arranged in an arbitrary format such as a machine language may be realized. Such software allows for the functionality, manufacturing, modeling, simulation, description and / or testing of the devices and processes described herein. For example, this may be a general purpose programming language (eg, C, C ++, etc.), a GDSII database, a hardware description language (HDL) including Verilog HDL, VHDL, AHDL (Altera HDL), or other usable program, database , Nanoprocessing, and / or using circuit (ie, schematic) capture tools. Such software can be used in known computer usable media including semiconductors, magnetic disks, optical disks (eg, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, etc.), and computer usable (eg, readable) transmission media (eg, carrier waves). Or a computer data signal embodied on a digital-based medium, an optical-based medium, or other medium including an analog-based medium). In this way, the software can be transmitted over communication networks including the Internet and intranets. Systems, methods and computer program products and propagation signals embodied in system hardware may be included in an intellectual property core (e.g., embodied in HDL) and converted to hardware in the manufacture of integrated circuits. Further, systems, methods, computer program products and propagated signals as disclosed herein may be embodied as a combination of hardware and software.

  For example, one preferred implementation of the present invention for switching control is as a routine in an operating system that consists of programming steps or instructions that reside in the memory of the computing system during computer operation. Until required by the computer system, the program instructions are stored on another readable medium, such as in a disk drive, or on an optical disk or floppy disk drive computer input for use with CD ROM computer input. It may be stored in a removable memory such as a (registered trademark) disk. Further, the program instructions may be stored in the memory of another computer prior to use in the system of the present invention and transmitted over a LAN or WAN such as the Internet when requested by a user of the present invention. Those skilled in the art need to understand that the process controlling the present invention can be distributed in the form of various types of computer readable media.

  Any suitable programming language can be used to implement the routines of the present invention, including C, C ++, Java, assembly language, and the like. Various programming techniques such as procedural or object-oriented can be used. The routine can be executed on a single processing unit or on multiple processors. The steps, operations or calculations may be presented in a special order, but this order may be changed in different embodiments. In some embodiments, multiple steps shown herein as sequential can be performed simultaneously. The sequence of operations described herein can be interrupted, suspended, or otherwise controlled by another process such as an operating system, kernel, or the like. The routines can operate within the operating system environment or as stand-alone routines that occupy all or a significant portion of system processing.

  In the description herein, numerous specific details are provided, such as examples of components and / or methods, to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the invention. However, one of ordinary skill in the relevant arts may be practiced without using one or more of the specific details, or with other devices, systems, assemblies, methods, components, materials, parts and / or the like. Will be recognized. In other instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are not specifically shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of embodiments of the present invention.

  A “computer-readable medium” for embodiments of the present invention stores, stores, communicates, propagates a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, system or device. It can be any medium that performs or transports. The computer readable medium is by way of example only and not limitation and is an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, system, device, propagation medium, or computer memory There is.

  A “processor” or “process” includes any human, hardware and / or software system, mechanism or component that processes data, signals or other information. A processor may include a general-purpose central processing unit, multiple processing units, a dedicated network for achieving functionality, or a system with other systems. The process need not be restricted to a geographical location or have time restrictions. For example, the processor may perform its function “in real time”, “offline”, “in batch mode”, and the like. The portions of processing can be performed at different locations and at different locations by different (or the same) processing systems.

  Reference throughout this specification to "one embodiment", "embodiment", "preferred embodiment" or "specific embodiment" refers to a particular function, structure or feature described in connection with the embodiment. It is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention and means not necessarily included in all embodiments. Thus, the appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment”, “in an embodiment”, or “in a specific embodiment” in various places in the specification are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular functions, structures or features of the invention may be suitably combined with one or more other embodiments. It is understood that other variations and modifications of the embodiments of the invention described and illustrated herein are possible in light of the teaching herein and should be considered as part of the spirit and scope of the invention. It should be.

  Embodiments of the present invention provide application-specific integrated circuits, programmable logic devices, field programmable gate arrays, optical, chemical, biological, quantum or nanofabricated systems, components by using programmed general purpose digital computers. And by using a mechanism. In general, the functions of the present invention can be achieved by any means as is known in the art. Distributed or networked systems, components and circuits can be used. Data communication or transfer may be wired, wireless, or any other means.

  Also, one or more of the elements depicted in the drawings / drawings may be implemented in a separate or integrated manner, or deleted in certain cases to be valid in accordance with a particular application. It will also be understood that it may be impossible to implement. It is also within the spirit and scope of the present invention to implement a program or code that can be stored in a machine-readable medium to enable a computer to perform any of the methods described above.

  Further, the signal arrows in the drawings / drawings are to be considered as illustrative only and unless otherwise noted, and should not be considered limiting. Furthermore, the term “or” as used herein is generally intended to mean “and / or” unless stated otherwise. A combination of components or steps is also considered annotated if the technology expected to represent the ability to separate or combine is not clear.

  As used herein in the description and throughout the claims that follow, “a”, “an”, and “the” refer to the plural unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. including. Also, in the description and throughout the following claims, the meaning of “in” includes “in” and “on” unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

  The above description of illustrated embodiments of the invention, including what is described in the abstract, is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed herein. . While particular embodiments and examples of the present invention have been described herein for purposes of illustration only, various equivalent variations will be within the spirit and scope of the present invention, as will be appreciated and understood by those skilled in the art. Is possible. As indicated, these variations may be made to the invention in light of the foregoing description of the illustrated embodiments of the invention and should be within the spirit and scope of the invention.

  Thus, although the invention has been described herein with reference to specific embodiments thereof, the scope of the variations, various variations and substitutions are intended in the disclosure, and in some examples, embodiments of the invention It will be understood that some features may be utilized without the corresponding use of other features without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as described. Accordingly, many variations may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the essential scope and spirit of the invention. The invention is not limited to the specific terms used in the following claims, and / or to the specific embodiments disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out the invention. The invention is intended to cover all and all embodiments and equivalents contained in the appended claims. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be determined only by the appended claims.

1 is a general schematic plan view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a detailed schematic plan view of a particular implementation of the preferred embodiment shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is an end view of the preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of a preferred embodiment of a display assembly. FIG. 5 is a diagram of one arrangement of the front panel output ports shown in FIG. 4. 3 is a schematic representation of a preferred embodiment of the present invention for a portion of the structured waveguide shown in FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an exemplary waveguide manufacturing system for manufacturing a preferred embodiment of the waveguide preform of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary fiber pulling system for making a preferred embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a general schematic diagram of a simplified single panel waveguide based display. FIG. FIG. 10 is a detailed schematic diagram of the display shown in FIG. 9. 1 is a schematic diagram of an addressing grid 1100 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an “X” ribbon structure fiber system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a “Y” ribbon structured fiber system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. FIG. FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a preferred embodiment for a modular switching matrix used in the displays shown in FIGS. 9 and 10. FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a first alternative preferred embodiment for a modular switching matrix used in the displays shown in FIGS. 9 and 10. FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a second alternative preferred embodiment of a modular switching matrix used in the display shown in FIGS. 9 and 10. FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a third alternative preferred embodiment of a modular switching matrix used in the display shown in FIGS. 9 and 10. 1 is an overall schematic diagram of a laterally integrated modulator switch / junction system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 19 is an overall schematic diagram of a series of manufacturing steps for the laterally integrated modulator switch / junction shown in FIG. FIG. 2 is a schematic three-dimensional view of a textile matrix that can be used as a display, display element, logic device, logic element, or memory device.

Claims (24)

The device is:
A plurality of waveguides disposed within the woven structure; and
An influencer system coupled to the plurality of waveguides and independently affecting characteristics of radiation propagation through the one or more waveguides.   The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the waveguide is interwoven with a plurality of support filament structures.   The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the plurality of support filament structures include conductive elements that form an addressing grid associated with each waveguide.   The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the feature is a polarization angle.   The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the influencer system comprises a modulation system that affects amplification integrated within a boundary layer of the waveguide.   Each of the waveguides includes an output, and the plurality of waveguides are disposed within the fabric structure to generate a collective presentation matrix from the outputs of the plurality of waveguides. The apparatus of claim 1. Switching matrix:
A plurality of waveguides having generally parallel displacement axes, each of the waveguides including an integrated influencer, the influencer being added to the first and second contact portions thereof Reacts to the signal,
A conductive X-addressing filament woven between the waveguides;
A conductive Y-addressing filament disposed between the waveguides and in electrical communication with the second contact, wherein the addressing filament autonomously controls any of the influencers; A switching matrix that provides an addressing grid. Manufacturing method is:
a) Weaving a plurality of waveguides with integrated influencer elements and a plurality of conductive filaments to produce a textile fabric, said filaments having an addressing grid associated with each influencer Generate and further
b) generating a planar mat from the fabric, wherein each of the waveguides has an output that contributes to a collective presentation matrix established by the placement of the waveguide in the fabric. A propagated signal comprising computer-executable instructions for performing a method when executed by a computing system, the method comprising:
a) weaving a plurality of waveguides having integrated influencer elements with a plurality of conductive filaments to produce a textile fabric, generating an addressing grid in which the filaments are coupled to the influencers; ,
b) further comprising generating a planar mat from the fabric, wherein each of the waveguides has an output that contributes to a collective presentation matrix established by the placement of the waveguide in the fabric. An optical waveguide based, component magneto-optical display or image projector system:
One or more waveguiding structures with Faraday attenuation and color filtering functions integrated structurally and / or material therein, said waveguiding structures being structurally formed to form a display or image projector A system that is assembled into a switching matrix or array, wherein the waveguide structure optionally further comprises illumination means and polarization filtering means integrated structurally and / or material therein.   The system of claim 10, wherein the system is an “integrated” flat panel fiber optic based display.   The textile fabric switching matrix incorporates integrated Faraday attenuator fiber optic segments and “x” and “y” structures and circuit addressing elements; or the application of a new textile collective 3D circuit configuration 12. An integrated composite optical fiber component is employed to parallel display or project an image from a circuit configuration, and can perform LSI and VLSI circuit scaling for electro-optic calculations. System. A display and a three-dimensional fiber optic electro-optic circuit configuration, assembled by textile weaving of the embodiment of claim 16,
"X" ribbons, structural fibers parallel to the display surface, fabric holding optical fiber segments and parallel spacer filaments; optical fiber components whose output ends face the display surface / form the display; It incorporates a conductive polymer filament to achieve X "addressing,
Forms another “ribbon”, but is woven with an “X” ribbon and at right angles through the “X” ribbon, including structural filaments and conductive polymer filaments that achieve “Y” addressing; Further comprising “Y” fibers / filaments forming a textile mat,
Detachable from the jacquard loom, becomes the structural frame of a flat panel display, fixes the addressing filament to the drive circuit, holds the entire fabric structure of the switching matrix, self-fixes by side weaving, 13. The system of claim 12, further comprising a "display frame" that enables individual hooking or securing implementations.   The “passive matrix” transistors in the “x” and “y” axes to the sides of the textile woven switching matrix structure can be removed from the weaving in the “display frame” or on the internal mounting frame of the flat panel display case. The system of claim 12, which is incorporated in any of the interiors.   15. An “active matrix” transistor is implemented for each RGB sub-pixel and is incorporated within a fiber woven Faraday attenuator component or other element of a textile-woven switching matrix. System of addressing method described.   The transistor is fabricated by standard semiconductor wafer methods within the internal cladding structure of an integrated Faraday attenuator fiber optic component, including vapor deposition, epitaxial crystal formation, quantum well intermixing, etc. The system of claim 15, wherein the classes are integrally formed by inter-fiber and intra-fiber cladding and casing structures.   16. The system and method of claim 15, wherein the transistor is formed on a thin film tape and packaged on a fiber.   16. The system of claim 15, and the same method, wherein the transistor is fabricated on a thin film tape and packaged by a switching matrix on a structural filament near the fiber.   16. The system and method of claim 15, wherein the transistor is printed on the fiber or on a nearby structural filament by immersion nanolithography.   “Component” switching based on a fiber optic display or projector that incorporates a fiber optic bundle integrated with a semiconductor addressing wafer and a display module that is separate from the switching module but connected by a fiber optic bundle. The system according to claim 10, comprising a module.   21. The system of claim 20, wherein the system is an integrated Faraday attenuator fiber optic component as disclosed in claim 22 and dependent claims. The textile structure assembly consists only of sub-pixel Faraday attenuator fiber optic components having textile support and alignment without providing "x" and "y" addressing filaments, but alternatively, claim 41. With another change, said another change,
21. Only one end of the fiber segment is attached and the Faraday attenuator structure is manufactured with a large cap that forms a fiber optic cable between the switching means and the display or projector surface. The system described.   23. The system of claim 22, wherein the relative position of the fiber in a display or projector surface is maintained by periodic weaving of optical fibers.   24. The system of claim 23, wherein any spacing filaments between the fibers are eliminated in stages to allow the fibers to be bundled together in stages.

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