WO2005076721A2 - Dispositif, procede et progiciel pour systeme de lunettes a guides d'ondes et a substrats/composants - Google Patents

Dispositif, procede et progiciel pour systeme de lunettes a guides d'ondes et a substrats/composants Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2005076721A2
WO2005076721A2 PCT/IB2005/050557 IB2005050557W WO2005076721A2 WO 2005076721 A2 WO2005076721 A2 WO 2005076721A2 IB 2005050557 W IB2005050557 W IB 2005050557W WO 2005076721 A2 WO2005076721 A2 WO 2005076721A2
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
waveguide
waveguide structures
fiber
radiation signal
radiation
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/IB2005/050557
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English (en)
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WO2005076721A3 (fr
WO2005076721A9 (fr
Inventor
Sutherland Ellwood
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Panorama Flat Ltd.
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
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Publication date
Priority claimed from US10/812,295 external-priority patent/US20050180674A1/en
Priority claimed from US10/906,223 external-priority patent/US20050201698A1/en
Priority claimed from US10/906,226 external-priority patent/US20060056794A1/en
Priority claimed from US10/906,259 external-priority patent/US20050201654A1/en
Priority claimed from US10/906,261 external-priority patent/US20060110090A1/en
Priority to EP05702970A priority Critical patent/EP1766450A2/fr
Priority to AU2005213229A priority patent/AU2005213229A1/en
Application filed by Panorama Flat Ltd. filed Critical Panorama Flat Ltd.
Priority to JP2006552770A priority patent/JP2007527032A/ja
Priority to CN2005800109836A priority patent/CN101124498B/zh
Publication of WO2005076721A2 publication Critical patent/WO2005076721A2/fr
Publication of WO2005076721A9 publication Critical patent/WO2005076721A9/fr
Publication of WO2005076721A3 publication Critical patent/WO2005076721A3/fr

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02F—OPTICAL DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF LIGHT BY MODIFICATION OF THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIA OF THE ELEMENTS INVOLVED THEREIN; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; FREQUENCY-CHANGING OF LIGHT; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS
    • G02F1/00—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics
    • G02F1/01—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour 
    • G02F1/09—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour  based on magneto-optical elements, e.g. exhibiting Faraday effect
    • G02F1/095—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour  based on magneto-optical elements, e.g. exhibiting Faraday effect in an optical waveguide structure
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B82—NANOTECHNOLOGY
    • B82Y—SPECIFIC USES OR APPLICATIONS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MEASUREMENT OR ANALYSIS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF NANOSTRUCTURES
    • B82Y20/00—Nanooptics, e.g. quantum optics or photonic crystals
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B1/00—Optical elements characterised by the material of which they are made; Optical coatings for optical elements
    • G02B1/002—Optical elements characterised by the material of which they are made; Optical coatings for optical elements made of materials engineered to provide properties not available in nature, e.g. metamaterials
    • G02B1/005—Optical elements characterised by the material of which they are made; Optical coatings for optical elements made of materials engineered to provide properties not available in nature, e.g. metamaterials made of photonic crystals or photonic band gap materials
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
    • G02B6/10—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings of the optical waveguide type
    • G02B6/12—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings of the optical waveguide type of the integrated circuit kind
    • G02B6/122—Basic optical elements, e.g. light-guiding paths
    • G02B6/1225—Basic optical elements, e.g. light-guiding paths comprising photonic band-gap structures or photonic lattices
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02F—OPTICAL DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF LIGHT BY MODIFICATION OF THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIA OF THE ELEMENTS INVOLVED THEREIN; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; FREQUENCY-CHANGING OF LIGHT; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS
    • G02F1/00—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics
    • G02F1/01—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour 
    • G02F1/0136—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour  for the control of polarisation, e.g. state of polarisation [SOP] control, polarisation scrambling, TE-TM mode conversion or separation

Definitions

  • the present invention relates generally to a transport for propagating radiation, and more specifically to a waveguide having a guiding channel that includes optically- active constituents that enhance a responsiveness of a radiation-influencing property of the waveguide to an outside influence.
  • the Faraday Effect is a phenomenon wherein a plane of polarization of linearly polarized light rotates when the light is propagated through a transparent medium placed in a magnetic field and in parallel with the magnetic field.
  • An effectiveness of the magnitude of polarization rotation varies with the strength of the magnetic field, the Verdet constant inherent to the medium and the light path length.
  • V is called the Verdet constant (and has units of arc minutes cm-1 Gauss- 1)
  • B the magnetic field
  • d the propagation distance subject to the field.
  • Faraday rotation occurs because imposition of a magnetic field alters the energy levels.
  • An optical isolator includes a Faraday rotator to rotate by 45° the plane of polarization, a magnet for application of magnetic field, a polarizer, and an analyzer.
  • Conventional optical isolators have been of the bulk type wherein no waveguide (e.g., optical fiber) is used.
  • magneto-optical modulators have been produced from discrete crystals containing paramagnetic and ferromagnetic materials, particularly garnets (yttrium/iron garnet for example). Devices such as these require considerable magnetic control fields.
  • the magneto-optical effects are also used in thin-layer technology, particularly for producing non-reciprocal devices, such as non-reciprocal junctions. Devices such as these are based on a conversion of modes by Faraday Effect or by Cotton-Moutton effect.
  • a further drawback to using paramagnetic and ferromagnetic materials in magneto- optic devices is that these materials may adversely affect properties of the radiation other than polarization angle, such as for example amplitude, phase, and/or frequency.
  • the prior art has known the use of discrete magneto-optical bulk devices (e.g., crystals) for collectively defining a display device.
  • These prior art displays have several drawbacks, including a relatively high cost per picture element (pixel), high operating costs for controlling individual pixels, increasing control complexity that does not scale well for relatively large display devices.
  • FPDs flat panel displays
  • CRTs cathode ray tubes
  • a main challenge confronting existing FPD technology is cost, as compared with the dominant cathode ray tube (CRT) technology ("flat panel” means “flat” or “thin” compared to a CRT display, whose standard depth is nearly equal to the width of the display area).
  • CRT cathode ray tube
  • HDTV projection systems face the dual challenge of minimizing a depth of the display, while maintaining uniform image quality within the constraints of a relatively short throw- distance to the display surface. This balancing typically results in a less- than-satisfactory compromise at the price of relatively lower cost.
  • Direct Drive Image Light Amplifier is a reflective liquid crystal light valve device developed by JVC Projectors.
  • a driving integrated circuit (“IC") writes an image directly onto a CMOS based light valve.
  • Liquid crystals change the reflectivity in proportion to a signal level.
  • These vertically aligned (homeoptropic) crystals achieve very fast response times with a rise plus fall time less than 16 milliseconds.
  • Light from a xenon or ultra high performance (“UHP”) metal halide lamp travels through a polarized beam splitter, reflects off the D-ILA device, and is projected onto a screen.
  • UHP ultra high performance
  • DMD chip At the heart of a DLPTM projection system is an optical semiconductor known as a Digital Micromirror Device, or DMD chip, which was pioneered by Dr. Larry Hornbeck of Texas Instruments in 1987.
  • the DMD chip is a sophisticated light switch. It contains a rectangular array of up to 1.3 million hinge-mounted microscopic mirrors; each of these micromirrors measures less than one-fifth the width of a human hair, and corresponds to one pixel in a projected image.
  • a DMD chip When a DMD chip is coordinated with a digital video or graphic signal, a light source, and a projection lens, its mirrors reflect an all-digital image onto a screen or other surface.
  • the DMD and the sophisticated electronics that surround it are called Digital Light ProcessingTM technology.
  • GLV Grating-Light- Valve
  • a prototype device based on the technology achieved a contrast ratio of 3000: 1 (typical high-end projection displays today achieve only 1000:1).
  • the device uses three lasers chosen at specific wavelengths to deliver color.
  • the three lasers are: red (642 nm), green (532 nm), and blue (457nm).
  • the process uses MEMS technology (MicroElectroMechanical) and consists of a microribbon array of 1,080 pixels on a line. Each pixel consists of six ribbons, three fixed and three which move up/down. When electrical energy is applied, the three mobile ribbons form a kind of diffraction grating which "filters" out light.
  • Another conventional use for the Faraday Effect in the context of optical fibers is as a system to overlay a low-rate data transmission on top of conventional high-speed transmission of data through the fiber.
  • the Faraday Effect is used to slowly modulate the high-speed data to provide out-of-band signaling or control. Again, this use is implemented with the telecommunications use as the predominate consideration.
  • the fiber is designed for telecommunications usage and any modification of the fiber properties for participation in the Faraday Effect is not permitted to degrade the telecommunications properties that typically include attenuation and dispersion performance metrics for kilometer+-length fiber channels.
  • optical fiber manufacturing techniques were developed and refined to permit efficient and cost-effective manufacturing of extremely long-lengths of optically pure and uniform fibers.
  • a high-level overview of the basic manufacturing process for optical fibers includes manufacture of a perform glass cylinder, drawing fibers from the preform, and testing the fibers.
  • a perform blank is made using a modified chemical vapor deposition (MCVD) process that bubbles oxygen through silicon solutions having a requisite chemical composition necessary to produce the desired attributes (e.g., index of refraction, coefficient of expansion, melting point, etc.) of the final fiber.
  • MCVD modified chemical vapor deposition
  • the gas vapors are conducted to an inside of a synthetic silica or quartz tube (cladding) in a special lathe.
  • the lathe is turned and a torch moves along an outside of the tube. Heat from the torch causes the chemicals in the gases to react with oxygen and form silicon dioxide and germanium dioxide and these dioxides deposit on the inside of the tube and fuse together to form glass. The conclusion of this process produces the blank preform.
  • the blank preform After the blank preform is made, cooled, and tested, it is placed inside a fiber drawing tower having the preform at a top near a graphite furnace.
  • the furnace melts a tip of the preform resulting in a molten "glob" that begins to fall due to gravity. As it falls, it cools and forms a strand of glass.
  • This strand is threaded through a series of processing stations for applying desired coatings and curing the coatings and attached to a tractor that pulls the strand at a computer-monitored rate so that the strand has the desired thickness. Fibers are pulled at about a rate of thirty-three to sixty-six feet/ second with the drawn strand wound onto a spool. It is not uncommon for these spools to contain more than one point four (1.4) miles of optical fiber.
  • This finished fiber is tested, including tests for the performance metrics.
  • performance metrics for telecommunications grade fibers include: tensile strength (100,000 pounds per square inch or greater), refractive index profile (numerical aperture and screen for optical defects), fiber geometry (core diameter, cladding dimensions and coating diameters), attenuation (degradation of light of various wavelengths over distance), bandwidth, chromatic dispersion, operating temperature/ range, temperature dependence on attenuation, and ability to conduct light underwater.
  • PCFs photonic crystal fibers
  • a PCF is an optical fiber/ waveguiding structure that uses a microstructured arrangement of low-index material in a background material of higher refractive index.
  • the background material is often undoped silica and the low index region is typically provided by air voids running along the length of the fiber.
  • PCFs are divided into two general categories: (1) high index guiding fibers, and (2) low index guiding fibers.
  • high index guiding fibers are guiding light in a solid core by the Modified Total Internal Reflection (MTIR) principle. Total internal reflection is caused by the lower effective index in the microstructured air-filled region.
  • MTIR Modified Total Internal Reflection
  • Low index guiding fibers guide light using a photonic bandgap (PBG) effect.
  • PBG photonic bandgap
  • inventions are used to include the wide range of waveguiding structures and methods, the range of these structures may be modified as described herein to implement embodiments of the present invention.
  • the characteristics of different fiber types aides are adapted for the many different applications for which they are used. Operating a fiber optic system properly relies on knowing what type of fiber is being used and why.
  • Multimode fibers include step- index and graded-index fibers
  • single-mode fibers include step-index, matched clad, depressed clad and other exotic structures.
  • Multimode fiber is best designed for shorter transmission distances, and is suited for use in LAN systems and video surveillance.
  • Single-mode fiber are best designed for longer transmission distances, making it suitable for long-distance telephony and multichannel television broadcast systems.
  • "Air-clad" or evanescently-coupled waveguides include optical wire and optical nano-wire.
  • Stepped-index generally refers to provision of an abrupt change of an index of refraction for the waveguide - a core has an index of refraction greater than that of a cladding.
  • Graded-index refers to structures providing a refractive index profile that gradually decreases farther from a center of the core (for example the core has a parabolic profile).
  • Single-mode fibers have developed many different profiles tailored for particular applications (e.g., length and radiation frequency(ies) such as non dispersion-shifted fiber (NDSF), dispersion-shifted fiber (DSF) and nonzero-dispersion-shifted fiber(NZ-DSF)).
  • NDSF non dispersion-shifted fiber
  • DSF dispersion-shifted fiber
  • NZ-DSF nonzero-dispersion-shifted fiber
  • PM fiber is designed to propagate only one polarization of the input light.
  • PM fiber contains a feature not seen in other fiber types.
  • stress rods there are additional (2) longitudinal regions called stress rods. As their name implies, these stress rods create stress in the core of the fiber such that the transmission of only one polarization plane of light is favored.
  • YIG yttrium- iron-garnet
  • FZ floating ° zone
  • the sintered material of a prescribed formulation is placed in the central area between the mother stick and the seed crystal in order to create the fluid needed to promote the deposition of YIG single crystal.
  • Light from halogen lamps is focused on the central area, while the two shafts are rotated.
  • the central area when heated in an oxygenic atmosphere, forms a molten zone. Under this condition, the mother stick and the seed are moved at a constant speed and result in the movement of the molten zone along the mother stick, thus growing single crystals from the YIG sinter.
  • the FZ method grows crystal from a mother stick that is suspended in the air, contamination is precluded and a high-purity crystal is cultivated.
  • the FZ method produces ingots measuring 012 x 120 mm.
  • Bi-substituted iron garnet thick films are grown by a liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) method that includes an LPE furnace. Crystal materials and a PbO-B O flux are J 2 3 heated and made molten in a platinum crucible. Single crystal wafers, such as (GdCa) (GaMgZr) O , are soaked on the molten surface while rotated, which causes a Bi- substituted iron garnet thick film to be grown on the wafers. Thick films measuring as much as 3 inches in diameter can be grown.
  • LPE liquid phase epitaxy
  • Newer systems provide for the production and synthesis of Bismuth-substituted yttrium-iron-garnet (Bi-YIG) materials, thin-films and nanopowders.
  • Bi-YIG Bismuth-substituted yttrium-iron-garnet
  • nGimat Co. at 5313 Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, Atlanta, GA 30341 uses a combustion chemical vapor deposition (CCVD) system for production of thin film coatings.
  • CCVD combustion chemical vapor deposition
  • precursors which are the metal-bearing chemicals used to coat an object, are dissolved in a solution that typically is a combustible fuel. This solution is atomized to form microscopic droplets by means of a special nozzle. An oxygen stream then carries these droplets to a flame where they are combusted.
  • a substrate (a material being coated) is coated by simply drawing it in front of the flame. Heat from the flame provides energy that is required to vaporize the droplets and
  • epitaxial liftoff has been used for achieving heterogeneous integration of many LTI-V and elemental semiconductor systems.
  • it has been difficult using some processes to integrate devices of many other important material systems.
  • a good example of this problem has been the integration of single-crystal transition metal oxides on semiconductor platforms, a system needed for on-chip thin film optical isolators.
  • An implementation of epitaxial liftoff in magnetic garnets has been reported. Deep ion implantation is used to create a buried sacrificial layer in single-crystal yttrium iron garnet (YIG) and bismuth-substituted YIG (Bi-YIG) epitaxial layers grown on gadolinium gallium garnet (GGG).
  • YIG single-crystal yttrium iron garnet
  • Bi-YIG bismuth-substituted YIG
  • the damage generated by the implantation induces a large etch selectivity between the sacrificial layer and the rest of the garnet.
  • Ten-micron-thick films have been lifted off from the original GGG substrates by etching in phosphoric acid. Millimeter-size pieces have been transferred to the silicon and gallium arsenide substrates.
  • a stack featured four heteroepitaxial layers of 81-nm-thick yttrium iron garnet (YIG) atop 70-nm-thick bismuth iron garnet (BIG), a 279-nm-thick central layer of BIG, and four layers of BIG atop YIG.
  • YIG yttrium iron garnet
  • BIG bismuth iron garnet
  • BIG a 279-nm-thick central layer of BIG
  • a pulsed laser deposition using an LPX305i 248-nm KrF excimer laser was used.
  • the prior art employs specialty magneto-optic materials in most magneto-optic systems, but it has also been known to employ the Faraday Effect with less traditional magneto-optic materials such as the non-PCF optical fibers by creating the necessary magnetic field strength - as long as the telecommunications metrics are not compromised.
  • post-manufacturing methods are used in conjunction with pre-made optical fibers to provide certain specialty coatings for use in certain magneto-optical applications.
  • post- manufacture processing of the premade material is sometimes necessary to achieve various desired results. Such extra processing increases the final cost of the special fiber and introduces additional situations in which the fiber may fail to meet specifications.
  • magneto-applications typically include a small number (typically one or two) of magneto-optical components, the relatively high cost per unit is tolerable.
  • the final costs in terms of dollars and time
  • the electronic goggle apparatus includes one or more semiconductor substrate, each the substrate supporting: a plurality of integrated waveguide structures, each waveguide structure including a guiding channel and one or more bounding regions for propagating a radiation signal from an input to an output; and an influencer system, responsive to a control and coupled to the waveguide structures for independently controlling an amplitude of each the radiation signal at the output; a display system for arranging the outputs of the plurality of waveguide structures into a presentation matrix; and a head-mounted eyewear structure for positioning the presentation matrix in a field-of-view of a user.
  • An operating method includes a) propagating a radiation signal through each of a plurality of waveguide structures supported in one or more substrates and arranged into a presentation matrix, each waveguide structure including a guiding channel and one or more bounding regions for propagating a radiation signal from an input to an output; b) controlling independently an amplitude of each the radiation signal at the output of the corresponding waveguide structure; c) coordinating the radiation signal amplitude control for the plurality of waveguide structures to collectively define a display system from a succession of the amplitude controlled radiation signals; and d) positioning the display system within a field-of-view of a user.
  • a manufacturing method including: a) disposing a plurality of waveguide structures into one or more substrates, each waveguide structure including a guiding channel and one or more bounding regions for propagating a radiation signal from an input to an output; b) proximating an influencer system, responsive to a control, to the waveguide s cortures for independently controlling an amplitude of the radiation signal at the output; c) arranging the outputs of the plurality of waveguide structures into a presentation matrix; and d) positioning the presentation matrix in a field-of-view of a user.
  • the apparatus, method, computer program product and propagated signal of the present invention provide an advantage of using modified and mature waveguide manufacturing processes.
  • the waveguide is an optical transport, preferably an optical fiber or waveguide channel adapted to enhance short-length property influencing characteristics of the influencer by including optically-active constituents while preserving desired attributes of the radiation.
  • the property of the radiation to be influenced includes a polarization state of the radiation and the influencer uses a Faraday Effect to control a polarization rotation angle using a controllable, variable magnetic field propagated parallel to a transmission axis of the optical transport.
  • the optical transport is constructed to enable the polarization to be controlled quickly using low magnetic field strength over very short optical paths.
  • Radiation is initially controlled to produce a wave component having one particular polarization; the polarization of that wave component is influenced so that a second polarizing filter modulates an amplitude of emitted radiation in response to the influencing effect.
  • this modulation includes extinguishing the emitted radiation.
  • FIG_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 specific implementation of the preferred embodiment shown in FIG_1
  • FIG_3 is an end view of the preferred embodiment shown in FIG_2;
  • FIG_4 is a schematic block diagram of a preferred embodiment for a display assembly
  • FIG_5 is a view of one arrangement for output ports of the front panel shown in FIG_4
  • FIG_6 is a schematic representation of a preferred embodiment of the present invention for a portion of the structured waveguide shown in FIG_2
  • FIG_7 is a schematic block diagram of a representative waveguide manufacturing system for making a preferred embodiment of a waveguide preform of the present invention
  • FIG_8 is a schematic diagram of a representative fiber drawing system for making a preferred embodiment of the present invention
  • FIG_9 is a general schematic diagram of a transverse integrated modulator switch/ junction element according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention
  • FIG_10 is general schematic diagram of a series of fabrication steps for the transverse integrated modulator switch/junction shown in FIG_9
  • FIG_11 is a general schematic illustration of a "vertical" display system;
  • FIG_12 is a detailed schematic diagram of a portion of one strip shown in FIG_11;
  • FIG_13 is an alternate preferred embodiment for a display system implementing a semiconductor waveguide display/projector as a vertical solution using vertical waveguide channels in the semiconductor structure;
  • FIG_14 is an illustration showing the two-layers (a first layer and a second layer) that successively constitute the "coilform" pattern;
  • FIG_15 is an alternate preferred embodiment for a display system implementing a semiconductor waveguide display/projector as a planar solution using planar waveguide channels in a semiconductor structure;
  • FIG_16 is a cross-section of a transport/influencer system 1600 integrated into the semiconductor structure for propagating a radiation signal 1605, combined with a deflecting mechanism 1610 that re-directs light "valved" by the waveguide/influencer from the horizontal plane to the vertical;
  • FIG_17 is a schematic illustration of the display system shown in FIG_15 further illustrating three subpixel channels producing a single pixel;
  • FIG_18 illustrates a preferred embodiment for an optional implementation of a waveguide pathing structure in a system
  • FIG_19 is a front perspective view of a preferred embodiment for an electronic goggle system using substrated waveguide display systems.
  • FIG_20 is a side perspective view of the electronic goggle system shown in FIG_19.
  • the present invention relates to an alternative waveguide technology that offers advantages over the prior art to enhance a responsiveness of a radiation-influencing property of the waveguide to an outside influence while reducing unit cost and increasing manufacturability, reproducibility, uniformity, and reliability.
  • 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 generic principles and features described herein will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiment shown but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features described herein.
  • an optical transport is a waveguide particularly adapted to enhance the property influencing characteristics of the influencer while preserving desired attributes of the radiation.
  • the property of the radiation to be influenced includes its polarization rotation state and the influencer uses a Faraday Effect to control the polarization angle using a controllable, variable magnetic field propagated parallel to a transmission axis of the optical transport.
  • the optical transport is constructed to enable the polarization to be controlled quickly using low magnetic field strength over very short optical paths.
  • the optical transport includes optical fibers exhibiting high Verdet constants for the wavelengths of the transmitted radiation while concurrently preserving the waveguiding attributes of the fiber and otherwise providing for efficient construction of, and cooperative affectation of the radiation property(ies), by the property influencer.
  • the property influencer is a structure for implementing the property control of the radiation transmitted by the optical transport.
  • the property influencer is operatively coupled to the optical transport, which in one implementation for an optical transport formed by an optical fiber having a core and one or more cladding layers, preferably the influencer is integrated into or on one or more of the cladding layers without significantly adversely altering the waveguiding attributes of the optical transport.
  • the preferred implementation of the property influencer is a polarization influencing structure, such as a coil, coilform, or other structure capable of integration that supports/produces a Faraday Effect manifesting field in the optical transport (and thus affects the transmitted radiation) using one or more magnetic fields (one or more of which are controllable).
  • a polarization influencing structure such as a coil, coilform, or other structure capable of integration that supports/produces a Faraday Effect manifesting field in the optical transport (and thus affects the transmitted radiation) using one or more magnetic fields (one or more of which are controllable).
  • the structured waveguide of the present invention may serve in some embodiments as a transport in a modulator that controls an amplitude of propagated radiation.
  • the radiation emitted by the modulator will have a maximum radiation amplitude and a minimum radiation amplitude, controlled by the interaction of the property influencer on the optical transport. Extinguishing simply refers to the minimum radiation amplitude being at a sufficiently low level (as appropriate for the particular embodiment) to be characterized as "off” or “dark” or other classification indicating an absence of radiation. In other words, in some applications a sufficiently low but detectable/discernable radiation amplitude may properly be identified as "extinguished" when that level meets the parameters for the implementation or embodiment.
  • the present invention improves the response of the waveguide to the influencer by use of optically active constituents disposed in the guiding region during waveguide manufacture.
  • FIG_1 is a general schematic plan view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention for a Faraday structured waveguide modulator 100.
  • Modulator 100 includes an optical transport 105, a property influencer 110 operatively coupled to transport 105, a first property element 120, and a second property element 125.
  • Transport 105 may be implemented based upon many well-known optical waveguide structures of the art.
  • transport 105 may be a specially adapted optical fiber (conventional or PCF) having a guiding channel including a guiding region and one or more bounding regions (e.g., a core and one or more cladding layers for the core), or transport 105 may be a waveguide channel of a bulk device or substrate having one or more such guiding channels.
  • a conventional waveguide structure is modified based upon the type of radiation property to be influenced and the nature of influencer 110.
  • Influencer 110 is a structure for manifesting property influence (directly or indirectly such as through the disclosed effects) on the radiation transmitted through transport 105 and/or on transport 105.
  • Many different types of radiation properties may be influenced, and in many cases a particular structure used for influencing any given property may vary from implementation to implementation.
  • properties that may be used in turn to control an output amplitude of the radiation are desirable properties for influence.
  • radiation polarization angle is one property that may be influenced and is a property that may be used to control a transmitted amplitude of the radiation.
  • Use of another element, such as a fixed polarizer will control radiation amplitude based upon the polarization angle of the radiation compared to the transmission axis of the polarizer. Controlling the polarization angle varies the transmitted radiation in this example.
  • a Faraday Effect is but one example of one way of achieving polarization control within transport 105.
  • a preferred embodiment of influencer 110 for Faraday polarization rotation influence uses a combination of variable and fixed magnetic fields proximate to or integrated within/on transport 105. These magnetic fields are desirably generated so that a controlling magnetic field is oriented parallel to a propagation direction of radiation transmitted through transport 105. Properly controlling the direction and magnitude of the magnetic field relative to the transport achieves a desired degree of influence on the radiation polarization angle.
  • transport 105 be constructed to improve/maximize the "influencibility" of the selected property by influencer 110.
  • transport 105 is doped, formed, processed, and/or treated to increase/maximize the Verdet constant.
  • the greater the Verdet constant the easier influencer 110 is able to influence the polarization rotation angle at a given field strength and transport length.
  • attention to the Verdet constant is the primary task with other features/attributes/characteristics of the waveguide aspect of transport 105 secondary.
  • influencer 110 is integrated or otherwise "strongly associated" with transport 105 through the waveguide manufacturing process (e.g., the preform fabrication and/or drawing process), though some implementations may provide otherwise.
  • Element 120 and element 125 are property elements for selecting/filtering/operating on the desired radiation property to be influenced by influencer 110.
  • Element 120 may be a filter to be used as a "gating" element to pass wave components of the input radiation having a desired state for the appropriate property, or it may be a "processing" element to conform one or more wave components of the input radiation to a desired state for the appropriate property.
  • the gated/processed wave components from element 120 are provided to optical transport 105 and property influencer 110 controllably influences the transported wave components as described above.
  • Element 125 is a cooperative structure to element 120 and operates on the influenced wave components.
  • Element 125 is a structure that passes WAVE_OUT and controls an amplitude of WAVE_OUT based upon a state of the property of the wave component. The nature and particulars of that control relate to the influenced property and the state of the property from element 120 and the specifics of how that initial state has been influenced by influencer 110.
  • element 120 and element 125 may be polarization filters.
  • Element 120 selects one specific type of polarization for the wave component, for example right hand circular polarization.
  • Influencer 110 controls a polarization rotation angle of radiation as it passes through transport 105.
  • Element 125 filters the influenced wave component based upon the final polarization rotation angle as compared to a transmission angle of element 125. In other words, when the polarization rotation angle of the influenced wave component matches the transmission axis of element 125, WAVE_OUT has a high amplitude.
  • WAVE_OUT When the polarization rotation angle of the influenced wave component is "crossed" with the transmission axis of element 125, WAVE_OUT has a low amplitude.
  • a cross in this context refers to a rotation angle about ninety degrees misaligned with the transmission axis for conventional polarization filters.
  • a default condition refers to a magnitude of the output amplitude without influence from influencer 110. For example, by setting the transmission axis of element 125 at a ninety degree relationship to a transmission axis of element 120, the default condition would be a minimum amplitude for the preferred embodiment.
  • Element 120 and element 125 may be discrete components or one or both structures may be integrated onto or into transport 105.
  • the elements may be localized at an "input” and an "output" of transport 105 as in the preferred embodiment, while in other embodiments these elements may be distributed in particular regions of transport 105 or throughout transport 105.
  • WAVE_LN radiation
  • an ap-litiste property e.g., a right hand circular polarization (RCP) rotation component
  • RCP right hand circular polarization
  • Transport 105 transmits the RCP wave component until it is interacted with by element 125 and the wave component (shown as WAVE_OUT) is passed.
  • Incident WAVEpJN typically has multiple orthogonal states to the polarization property (e.g., right hand circular polarization (RCP) and left hand circular polarization (LCP)).
  • Element 120 produces a particular state for the polarization rotation property (e.g., passes one of the orthogonal states and blocks/shifts the other so only one state is passed). Influencer 110, in response to a control signal, influences that particular polarization rotation of the passed wave component and may change it as specified by the control signal. Influencer 110 of the preferred embodiment is able to influence the polarization rotation property over a range of about ninety degrees. Element 125 then interacts with the wave component as it has been influenced permitting the radiation amplitude of WAVE_IN to be modulated from a maximum value when the wave component polarization rotation matches the transmission axis of element 125 and a minimum value when the wave component polarization is "crossed" with the transmission axis. By use of element 120, the amplitude of WAVE_OUT of the preferred embodiment is variable from a maximum level to an extinguished level.
  • FIG_2 is a detailed schematic plan view of a specific implementation of the preferred embodiment shown in FIG_1. This implementation is described specifically to simplify the discussion, though the invention is not limited to this particular example.
  • Faraday structured waveguide modulator 100 shown in FIG_1 is a Faraday optical modulator 200 shown in FIG_2.
  • Modulator 200 includes a core 205, a first cladding layer 210, a second cladding layer 215, a coil or coilform 220 (coil 220 having a first control node 225 and a second control node 230), an input element 235, and an output element 240.
  • FIG_3 is a sectional view of the preferred embodiment shown in FIG_2 taken between element 235 and element 240 with like numerals showing the same or corresponding structures.
  • Core 205 may contain one or more of the following dopants added by standard fiber manufacturing techniques, e.g., variants on the vacuum deposition method: (a) color dye dopant (makes modulator 200 effectively a color filter alight from a source illumination system), and (b) an optically-active dopant, such as YIG/Bi-YIG or Tb or TGG or other dopant for increasing the Verdet constant of core 205 to achieve efficient Faraday rotation in the presence of an activating magnetic field. Heating or applying stress to the fiber during manufacturing adds holes or irregularities in core 205 to further increase the Verdet constant and or implement non-linear effects. To simplify the discussion herein, the discussion focuses predominately on non-PCF waveguides.
  • PCF variants may be substituted for the non-PCF wavelength embodiments unless the context clearly is contrary to such substitution.
  • color filtering is implemented using wavelength-selective bandgap coupling or longitudinal structures/ voids may be filled and doped. Therefore, whenever color filtering/dye-doping is discussed in connection with non-PCF waveguides, the use of wavelength-selective bandgap coupling and/or filling and doping for PCF waveguides may also be substituted when appropriate.
  • silica optical fiber is manufactured with high levels of dopants relative to the silica percentage (this level may be as high as fifty percent dopants).
  • Current dopant concentrations in silica structures of other kinds of fiber achieve about ninety-degree rotation in a distance of tens of microns.
  • Conventional fiber manufacturers continue to achieve improvements in increasing dopant concentration (e.g., fibers commercially available from JDS Uniphase) and in controlling dopant profile (e.g., fibers commercially available from Corning Incorporated).
  • Core 205 achieves sufficiently high and controlled concentrations of optically active dopants to provide requisite quick rotation with low power in micron-scale distances, with these power/distance values continuing to decrease as further improvements are made.
  • First cladding layer 210 (optional in the preferred embodiment) is doped with ferromagnetic single-molecule magnets, which become permanently magnetized when exposed to a strong magnetic field. Magnetization of first cladding layer 210 may take place prior to the addition to core 205 or pre-form, or after modulator 200 (complete with core, cladding, coating(s) and/or elements) is drawn. During this process, either the preform or the drawn fiber passes through a strong permanent magnet field ninety degrees offset from a transmission axis of core 205. In the preferred embodiment, this magnetization is achieved by an electro-magnetic disposed as an element of a fiber pulling apparatus.
  • First cladding layer 210 (with permanent magnetic properties) is provided to saturate the magnetic domains of the optically-active core 205, but does not change the angle of rotation of the radiation passing through fiber 200, since the direction of the magnetic field from layer 210 is at right-angles to the direction of propagation.
  • the incorporated provisional application describes a method to optimize an orientation of a doped ferromagnetic cladding by pulverization of non-optimal nuclei in a crystalline structure.
  • SMMs single-molecule magnets
  • ZettaCore, Inc. of Denver, Colorado.
  • 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 generating the requisite field.
  • second cladding layer 215 is saturated by a magnetic field generated by an adjacent field-generating element (e.g., coil 220), itself driven by a signal (e.g., a control pulse) from a controller such as a switching matrix drive circuit (not shown), second cladding layer 215 quickly reaches a degree of magnetization appropriate to the degree of rotation desired for modulator 200.
  • second cladding layer 215 remains magnetized at or sufficiently near that level until a subsequent pulse either increases (current in the same direction), refreshes (no current or a +/- maintenance current), or reduces (current in the opposite direction) the magnetization level.
  • This remanent flux of doped second cladding layer 215 maintains an appropriate degree of rotation over time without constant application of a field by influencer 110 (e.g., coil 220).
  • Alteration of crystalline structure is a method known to the art, and may be employed on a doped silica cladding, either in a fabricated fiber or on a doped preform material.
  • the '010 patent is hereby expressly incorporated by reference for all purposes.
  • SMMs single-molecule magnets
  • Coil 220 of the preferred embodiment is fabricated integrally on or in fiber 200 to generate an initial magnetic field.
  • This magnetic field from coil 220 rotates the angle of polarization of radiation transmitted through core 205 and magnetizes the ferri/ ferromagnetic dopant in second cladding layer 215.
  • a combination of these magnetic fields maintains the desired angle of rotation for a desired period (such a time of a video frame when a matrix of fibers 200 collectively form a display as described in one of the related patent applications incorporated herein).
  • a "coilform" is defined as a structure similar to a coil in that a plurality of conductive segments are disposed parallel to each other and at right-angles to the axis of the fiber.
  • coil 220 uses a conductive material that is a conductive polymer that is less efficient than a metal wire. In other implementations, coil 220 uses wider but fewer windings than otherwise would be used with a more efficient material. In still other instances, such as when coil 220 is fabricated by a convenient process but produces coil 220 having a less efficient operation, other parameters compensate as necessary to achieve suitable overall operation.
  • Node 225 and node 230 receive a signal for inducing generation of the requisite magnetic fields in core 205, cladding layer 215, and coil 220.
  • This signal in a simple embodiment is a DC (direct current) signal of the appropriate magnitude and duration to create the desired magnetic fields and rotate the polarization angle of the WAVE_LN radiation propagating through modulator 200.
  • a controller (not shown) may provide this control signal when modulator 200 is used.
  • Input element 235 and output element 240 are polarization filters in the preferred embodiment, provided as discrete components or integrated into/onto core 205.
  • Input element 235 as a polarizer, may be implemented in many different ways.
  • Various polarization mechanisms may be employed that permit passage of light of a single polarization type (specific circular or linear) into core 205; the preferred embodiment uses a thin-film deposited epitaxially on an "input" end of core 205.
  • a preferred illumination system may include a cavity to allow repeated reflection of light of the "wrong" initial polarization; thereby all light ultimately resolves into the admitted or "right” polarization.
  • polarization- maintaining waveguides fibers, semiconductor
  • Output element 240 of the preferred embodiment is a "polarization filter” element that is ninety degrees offset from the orientation of input element 235 for a default "off" modulator 200. (In some embodiments, the default may be made “on” by aligning the axes of the input and output elements. Similarly, other defaults such as fifty percent amplitude may be implemented by appropriate relationship of the input and output elements and suitable control from the influencer.)
  • Element 240 is preferably a thin- film deposited epitaxially on an output end of core 205. Input element 235 and output element 240 may be configured differently from the configurations described here using other polarization filter/control systems.
  • the radiation property to be influenced includes a property other than a radiation polarization angle (e.g., phase or frequency)
  • other input and output functions are used to properly gate/process/filter the desired property as described above to modulate the amplitude of WAVE_OUT responsive to the influencer.
  • FIG_4 is a schematic block diagram of a preferred embodiment for a display assembly 400.
  • Assembly 400 includes an aggregation of a plurality of picture elements (pixels) each generated by a waveguide modulator 200i,j such as shown in FIG_2.
  • Control signals for control of each influencer of modulators 200i,j are provided by a controller 405.
  • a radiation source 410 provides source radiation for input/control by modulators 200i,j and a front panel may be used to arrange modulators 200i,j into a desired pattern and or optionally provide post-output processing of one or more pixels.
  • Radiation source 410 may be unitary balanced- white or separate RGB/CM Y tuned source or sources or other appropriate radiation frequency. Source(s) 410 may be remote from input ends of modulator 200i,j, adjacent these input ends, or integrated onto/into modulator 200i,j. In some implementations, a single source is used, while other implementations may use several or more (and in some cases, one source per modulator 200i,j).
  • the preferred embodiment for the optical transport of modulator 200i,j includes light channels in the form of special optical fibers. But semiconductor waveguide, waveguiding holes, or other optical waveguiding channels, including channels or regions formed through material "in depth,” are also encompassed within the scope of the present invention. These waveguiding elements are fundamental imaging structures of the display and incorporate, integrally, amplitude modulation mechanisms and color selection mechanisms. In the preferred embodiment for an FPD implementation, a length of each of the light channels is preferably on the order of about tens of microns (though the length may be different as described herein).
  • a length of the optical transport is short (on the order of about 20mm and shorter), and able to be continually shortened as the effective Verdet value increases and/or the magnetic field strength increases.
  • the actual depth of a display will be a function of the channel length but because optical transport is a waveguide, the path need not be linear from the source to the output (the path length). In other words, the actual path may be bent to provide an even shallower effective depth in some implementations.
  • the path length is a function of the Verdet constant and the magnetic field strength and while the preferred embodiment provides for very short path lengths of a few millimeters and shorter, longer lengths may be used in some implementations as well.
  • the necessary length is determined by the influencer to achieve the desired degree of influence/control over the input radiation.
  • this control is able to achieve about a ninety degree rotation.
  • an extinguishing level is higher (e.g., brighter) then less rotation may be used which shortens the necessary path length.
  • the path length is also influenced by the degree of desired influence on the wave component.
  • Controller 405 includes a number of alternatives for construction and assembly of a suitable switching system.
  • the preferred implementation includes not only a point- to-point controller, it also encompasses a "matrix" that structurally combines and holds modulators 200i,j, and electronically addresses each pixel.
  • matrix structurally combines and holds modulators 200i,j, and electronically addresses each pixel.
  • optical fibers inherent in the nature of a fiber component is the potential for an all-fiber, textile construction and appropriate addressing of the fiber elements.
  • Flexible meshes or solid matrixes are alternative structures, with attendant assembly methods.
  • an output end of one or more modulators 200 may be processed to improve its application.
  • the output ends of the waveguide structures particularly when implemented as optical fibers, may be heat-treated and pulled to form tapered ends or otherwise abraded, twisted, or shaped for enhanced light scattering at the output ends, thereby improving viewing angle at the display surface.
  • Some and/or all of the modulator output ends may be processed in similar or dissimilar ways to collectively produce a desired output structure achieving the desired result. For example, various focus, attenuation, color or other attribute(s) of the WAVE_OUT from one or more pixels may be controlled or affected by the processing of one or more output ends/corresponding panel location(s).
  • Front panel 415 may be simply a sheet of optical glass or other transparent optical material facing the polarization component or it may include additional functional and structural features.
  • panel 415 may include guides or other structures to arrange output ends of modulators 200 into the desired relative orientation with neighboring modulators 200 .
  • FIG_5 is a view of one arrangement for output ports 500 of front panel 415 shown in FIG_4. Other arrangements are possible are also possible depending upon the desired display (e.g., circular, elliptical or other regular/ irregular geometric shape). When an application requires it, the active display area does not have to be contiguous pixels such that rings or "doughnut" displays are possible when appropriate.
  • output ports may focus, disperse, filter, or perform other type of post-output processing on one or more pixels.
  • An optical geometry of a display or projector surface may itself vary in which waveguide ends terminate to a desired three-dimensional surface (e.g., a curved surface) which allows additional focusing capacity in sequence with additional optical elements and lenses (some of which may be included as part of panel 415).
  • a desired three-dimensional surface e.g., a curved surface
  • Some applications may require multiple areas of concave, flat, and/or convex surface regions, each with different curvatures and orientations with the present invention providing the appropriate output shape.
  • the specific geometry need not be fixed but may be dynamically alterable to change shapes/orientations/dimensions as desired. Implementations of the present invention may produce various types of haptic display systems as well.
  • radiation source 410 a "switching assembly" with controller 405 coupled to modulators 200 , and front panel 415 may benefit from being housed in distinct modules or units, at some distance from each other.
  • radiation source 410 in some embodiments it is advantageous to separate the illumination source(s) from the switching assembly due to heat produced by the types of high-amplitude light that is typically required to illuminate a large theatrical screen. Even when multiple illumination sources are used, distributing the heat output otherwise concentrated in, for instance, a single Xenon lamp, the heat output may still be large enough that the separation from the switching and display elements may be desirable.
  • the illumination source(s) thus would be housed in an insulated case with heat sink and cooling elements. Fibers would then convey the light from the separate or unitary source to the switching assembly, and then projected onto the screen.
  • the screen may include some features of front panel 415 or panel 415 may be used prior to illuminating an appropriate surface.
  • the separation of the switching assembly from the projection/display surface may have its own advantages. Placing the illumination and switching assembly in a projection system base (the same would hold true for an FPD) is able to reduce the depth of a projection TV cabinet. Or, the projection surface may be contained in a compact ball at the top of a thin lamp-like pole or hanging from the ceiling from a cable, in front projection systems employing a reflective fabric screen.
  • the potential to convey the image formed by the switching assembly, by means of waveguide structures from a unit on the floor, up to a compact final-optics unit at the projection window area suggests a space-utilization strategy to accommodate both a traditional film projector and a new projector of the preferred embodiment in the same projection room, among other potential advantages and configurations.
  • a monolithic construction of waveguide strips may accomplish hi-definition imaging.
  • "bulk” fiber optic component construction may also accomplish the requisite small projection surface area in the preferred embodiment.
  • Single-mode fibers (especially without the durability performance requirements of external telecommunications cable) have a small enough diameter that the cross-sectional area of a fiber is quite small and suitable as a display pixel or sub-pixel.
  • integrated optics manufacturing techniques are expected to permit attenuator arrays of the present invention to be accomplished in the fabrication of a single semiconductor substrate or chip, massively monolithic or superficial.
  • the fused-fiber surface may be then ground to achieve a curvature for the purpose of focusing an image into an optical array; alternatively, fiber-ends that are joined with adhesive or otherwise bound may have shaped tips and may be arranged at their terminus in a shaped matrix to achieve a curved surface, if necessary.
  • 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_2.
  • Portion 600 is a radiation propagating channel of waveguide 205, typically a guiding channel (e.g., a core for a fiber waveguide) but may include one or more bounding regions (e.g., claddings for the fiber waveguide).
  • Other waveguiding structures have different specific mechanisms for enhancing the waveguiding of radiation propagated along a transmission axis of a channel region of the waveguide. Waveguides include photonic crystal fibers, special thin-film stacks of structured materials and other materials. The specific mechanisms of waveguiding may vary from waveguide to waveguide, but the present invention may be adapted for use with the different structures.
  • the terms guiding region or guiding channel and bounding regions refer to cooperative structures for enhancing radiation propagation along the transmission axis of the channel. These structures are different from buffers or coatings or post-manufacture treatments of the waveguide. A principle difference is that the bounding regions are typically capable of propagating the wave component propagated through the guiding region while the other components of a waveguide do not. For example, in a multimode fiber optic waveguide, significant energy of higher-order modes is propagated through the bounding regions.
  • the guiding region bounding region(s) are substantially transparent to propagating radiation while the other supporting structures are generally substantially opaque.
  • influencer 110 works in cooperation with waveguide 205 to influence a property of a propagating wave component as it is transmitted along the transmission axis.
  • Portion 600 is therefore said to have an influencer response attribute, and in the preferred embodiment this attribute is particularly structured to enhance the response of the property of the propagating wave to influencer 110.
  • Portion 600 includes a plurality of constituents (e.g., rare-earth dopants 605, holes, 610, structural irregularities 615, microbubbles 620, and/or other elements 625) disposed in the guiding region and/or one or more bounding regions as desirable for any specific implementation.
  • portion 600 has a very short length, in many cases less than about 25 millimeters, and as described above, sometimes significantly shorter than that.
  • the influencer response attribute enhanced by these constituents is optimized for short length waveguides (for example as contrasted to telecommunications fibers optimized for very long lengths on the order of kilometers and greater, including attenuation and wavelength dispersion).
  • the constituents of portion 600 being optimized for a different application, could seriously degrade telecommunications use of the waveguide. While the presence of the constituents is not intended to degrade telecommunications use, the focus of the preferred embodiment on enhancement of the influencer response attribute over telecommunications attribute(s) makes it possible for such degradation to occur and is not a drawback of the preferred embodiment.
  • the present invention contemplates that there are many different wave properties that may be influenced by different constructions of influencer 110; the preferred embodiment targets a Faraday-effect-related property of portion 600.
  • the Faraday Effect induces a polarization rotation change responsive to a magnetic field parallel to a propagation direction.
  • influencer 110 when influencer 110 generates a magnetic field parallel to the transmission axis, in portion 600 the amount of rotation is dependent upon the strength of the magnetic field, the length of portion 600, and the Verdet constant for portion 600.
  • the constituents increase the responsiveness of portion 600 to this magnetic field, such as by increasing the effective Verdet constant of portion 600.
  • One significance of the paradigm shift in waveguide manufacture and characteristics by the present invention is that modification of manufacturing techniques used to make kilometer-lengths of optically-pure telecommunications grade waveguides enables manufacture of inexpensive kilometer-lengths of potentially optically-impure (but optically-active) influencer-responsive waveguides.
  • some implementations of the preferred embodiment may use a myriad of very short lengths of waveguides modified as disclosed herein. Cost savings and other efficiencies/merits are realized by forming these collections from short length waveguides created from (e.g., cleaving) the longer manufactured waveguide as described herein.
  • an optical fiber is a filament of transparent (at the wavelength of interest) dielectric material (typically glass or plastic) and usually circular in cross section that guides light.
  • dielectric material typically glass or plastic
  • a cylindrical core was surrounded by, and in intimate contact with, a cladding of similar geometry. These optical fibers guided light by providing the core with slightly greater refractive index than that of the cladding layer.
  • Other fiber types provide different guiding mechanisms - one of interest in the context of the present invention includes photonic crystal fibers (PCF) as described above.
  • PCF photonic crystal fibers
  • Silica silicon dioxide (SiO )
  • Silica is the basic material of which the most common communication-grade optical fibers are made. Silica may occur in crystalline or amorphous form, and occurs naturally in impure forms such as quartz and sand.
  • the Verdet constant is an optical constant that describes the strength of the Faraday Effect for a particular material.
  • the Verdet constant for most materials, including silica is extremely small and is wavelength dependent. It is very strong in substances containing paramagnetic ions such as terbium (Tb).
  • Tb terbium
  • High Verdet constants are found in terbium doped dense flint glasses or in crystals of terbium gallium garnet (TGG). This material generally has excellent transparency properties and is very resistant to laser damage.
  • the Verdet constant is quite strongly a function of wavelength. At 632.8nm, the Verdet constant for TGG is reported to be -134 radT-1 whereas at 1064nm, it has fallen to -40radT-l. This behavior means that the devices manufactured with a certain degree of rotation at one wavelength, will produce much less rotation at longer wavelengths.
  • the constituents may, in some implements, include an optically-active dopant, such as YIG/Bi-YIG or Tb or TGG or other best-performing dopant, which increases the Verdet constant of the waveguide to achieve efficient Faraday rotation in the presence of an activating magnetic field. Heating or stressing during the fiber manufacturing process as described below may further increase the Verdet constant by adding additional constituents (e.g., holes or irregularities) in portion 600.
  • Rare-earths as used in conventional waveguides are employed as passive enhancements of transmission attributes elements, and are not used in optically-active applications.
  • silica optical fiber is manufactured with high levels of dopants relative to the silica percentage itself, as high as at least 50% dopants, and since requisite dopant concentrations have been demonstrated in silica structures of other kinds to achieve 90° rotation in tens of microns or less; and given improvements in increasing dopant concentrations (e.g., fibers commercially available from JDS Uniphase) and improvements in controlling dopant profiles (e.g., fibers, commercially available from Corning Incorporated), it is possible to achieve sufficiently high and controlled concentrations of optically-active dopant to induce rotation with low power in micron-scale distances.
  • dopant concentrations e.g., fibers commercially available from JDS Uniphase
  • improvements in controlling dopant profiles e.g., fibers, commercially available from Corning Incorporated
  • FIG_7 is a schematic block diagram of a representative waveguide manufacturing system 700 for making a preferred embodiment of a waveguide preform of the present invention.
  • System 700 represents a modified chemical vapor deposition (MCVD) process to produce a glass rod referred to as the preform.
  • the preform from a conventional process is a solid rod of ultra-pure glass, duplicating the optical properties of a desired fiber exactly, but with linear dimensions scaled-up two orders of magnitude or more.
  • system 700 produces a preform that does not emphasize optical purity but optimizes for short-length optimization of influencer response.
  • Preforms are typically made using one of the following chemical vapor deposition (CVD) methods: 1. Modified Chemical Vapor Deposition (MCVD), 2.
  • Plasma Modified Chemical Vapor Deposition PMCVD
  • PCVD Plasma Chemical Vapor Deposition
  • OPD Outside Vapor Deposition
  • Axial Deposition Axial Deposition
  • All these methods are based on thermal chemical vapor reaction that forms oxides, which are deposited as layers of glass particles called soot, on the outside of a rotating rod or inside a glass tube. The same chemical reactions occur in these methods.
  • Various liquids e.g., starting materials are solutions of SiCl , GeCl , POC1 , and gaseous BC1 ) that provide the source for Si and dopants are heated in the presence in oxygen gas, each liquid in a heated bubbler 705 and gas from a source 710.
  • Germanium dioxide and phosphorus pentoxide increase the refractive index of glass, a boron oxide - decreases it. These oxides are known as dopants.
  • Other bubblers 705 including suitable constituents for enhancing the influencer response attribute of the preform may be used in addition to those shown.
  • composition of the mixture during the process influences a refractive index profile and constituent profile of the preform.
  • the flow of oxygen is controlled by mixing valves 715, and reactant vapors 725 are blown into silica pipe 730 that includes a heated tube 735 where oxidizing takes places.
  • Chlorine gas 740 is blown out of tube 735, but the oxide compounds are deposited in the tube in the form of soot 745. Concentrations of iron and copper impurity is reduced from about lOppb in the raw liquids to less than lppb in soot 745.
  • Tube 735 is heated using a traversing H O burner 750 and is continually rotated to vitrify soot 745 into a glass 755.
  • a traversing H O burner 750 By adjusting the relative flow of the various vapors 725, several layers with different indices of refraction are obtained, for example core versus cladding or variable core index profile for GI fibers.
  • tube 735 is heated and collapsed into a rod with a round, solid cross- section, called the preform rod. In this step it is essential that center of the rod be completely filled with material and not hollow.
  • the preform rod is then put into a furnace for drawing, as will be described in cooperation with Fig. 8.
  • the main advantage of MCVD is that the reactions and deposition occur in a closed space, so it is harder for undesired impurities to enter.
  • the index profile of the fiber is easy to control, and the precision necessary for SM fibers can be achieved relatively easily.
  • the equipment is simple to construct and control.
  • a potentially significant limitation of the method is that the dimensions of the tube essentially limit the rod size. Thus, this technique forms fibers typically of 3 5km in length, or 20-40km at most.
  • impurities in the silica tube primarily H and OH-, tend to diffuse into the fiber.
  • the process of melting the deposit to eliminate the hollow center of the preform rod sometimes causes a depression of the index of refraction in the core, which typically renders the fiber unsuitable for telecommunications use but is not generally of concern in the context of the present invention.
  • the main disadvantage of the method is that the deposition rate is relatively slow because it employs indirect heating, that is tube 735 is heated, not the vapors directly, to initiate the oxidizing reactions and to vitrify the soot.
  • the deposition rate is typically 0.5 to 2g/min.
  • a variation of the above-described process makes rare-earth doped fibers.
  • the process starts with a rare-earth doped preform - typically fabricated using a solution doping process. Initially, an optical cladding, consisting primarily of fused silica, is deposited on an inside of the substrate tube. Core material, which may also contain germanium, is then deposited at a reduced temperature to form a diffuse and permeable layer known as a 'frit'.
  • this partially-completed preform is sealed at one end, removed from the lathe and a solution of suitable salts of the desired rare-earth dopant (e.g., neodymium, erbium, ytterbium etc.) is introduced. Over a fixed period of time, this solution is left to permeate the frit. After discarding any excess solution, the preform is returned to the lathe to be dried and consolidated. During consolidation, the interstices within the frit collapse and encapsulate the rare-earth. Finally, the preform is subjected to a controlled collapse, at high temperature to form a solid rod of glass - with a rare-earth incorporated into the core.
  • suitable salts of the desired rare-earth dopant e.g., neodymium, erbium, ytterbium etc.
  • rare-earths in fiber cables are not optically-active, that is, respond to electric or magnetic or other perturbation or field to affect a characteristic of light propagating through the doped medium.
  • Conventional systems are the results of ongoing quests to increase the percentage of rare-earth dopants driven by a goal to improve "passive" transmission characteristics of waveguides (including telecommunications attributes). But the increased percentages of dopants in waveguide core/boundaries is advantageous for affecting optical-activity of the compound medium/structure for the preferred embodiment.
  • the percentage of dopants vs. silica is at least fifty percent.
  • FIG_8 is a schematic diagram of a representative fiber drawing system 800 for making a preferred embodiment of the present invention from a preform 805, such as one produced from system 700 shown in FIG_7.
  • System 800 converts preform 805 into a hair-thin filament, typically performed by drawing.
  • Preform 805 is mounted into a feed mechanism 810 attached near a top of a tower 815.
  • Mechanism 810 lowers preform 805 until a tip enters into a high-purity graphite furnace 820. Pure gasses are injected into the furnace to provide a clean and conductive atmosphere.
  • furnace 820 tightly controlled temperatures approaching 1900°C soften the tip of preform 805. Once the softening point of the preform tip is reached, gravity takes over and allows a molten gob to "free fall” until it has been stretched into a thin strand.
  • An operator threads this strand of fiber through a laser micrometer 825 and a series of processing stations 830x (e.g., for coatings and buffers) for producing a transport 835 that is wound onto a spool by a tractor 840, and the drawing process begins.
  • the fiber is pulled by tractor 840 situated at the bottom of draw tower 815 and then wound on winding drums.
  • preform 805 is heated at the optimum temperature to achieve an ideal drawing tension.
  • Draw speeds of 10 - 20 meters per second are not uncommon in the industry.
  • the diameter of the drawn fiber is controlled to 125 microns within a tolerance of only 1 micron.
  • Laser-based diameter gauge 825 monitors the diameter of the fiber. Gauge 825 samples the diameter of the fiber at rates in excess of 750 times per second. The actual value of the diameter is compared to the 125 micron target. Slight deviations from the target are converted to changes in draw speeds and fed to tractor 840 for correction.
  • Processing stations 830x typically include dies for applying a two layer protective coating to the fiber — a soft inner coating and a hard outer coating. This two-part protective jacket provides mechanical protection for handling while also protecting a pristine surface of the fiber from harsh environments. These coatings are cured by ultraviolet lamps, as part of the same or other processing stations 830x. Other stations 830x may provide apparatus/systems for increasing the influencer response attribute of transport 835 as it passes through the station(s). For example, various mechanical stressors, ion bombardment or other mechanism for introducing the influencer response attribute enhancing constituents at the drawing stage.
  • the drawn fiber is tested for suitable optical and geometrical parameters.
  • a tensile strength is usually tested first to ensure that a minimal tensile strength for the fiber has been achieved.
  • many different tests are performed, which for transmission fibers includes tests for transmission attributes, including: attenuation (decrease in signal strength over distance), bandwidth (information-carrying capacity; an important measurement for multimode fiber), numerical aperture (the measurement of the light acceptance angle of a fiber), cut-off wavelength (in single-mode fiber the wavelength above which only a single mode propagates), mode field diameter (in single-mode fiber the radial width of the light pulse in the fiber; important for interconnecting), and chromatic dispersion (the spreading of pulses of light due to rays of different wavelengths traveling at different speeds through the core; in single-mode fiber this is the limiting factor for information carrying capacity).
  • the preferred embodiment of the present invention uses an optic fiber as a transport and primarily implements amplitude control by use of the "linear" Faraday Effect. While the Faraday Effect is a linear effect in which a polarization rotational angular change of propagating radiation is directly related to a magnitude of a magnetic field applied in the direction of propagation based upon the length over which the field is applied and the Verdet constant of the material through which the radiation is propagated. Materials used in a transport may not, however, have a linear response to an inducing magnetic field, e.g., such as from an influencer, in establishing a desired magnetic field strength.
  • an inducing magnetic field e.g., such as from an influencer
  • an actual output amplitude of the propagated radiation may be non-linear in response to an applied signal from controller and/or influencer magnetic field and/or polarization and/or other attribute or characteristic of a modulator or of WAVE_IN.
  • characterization of the modulator (or element thereof) in terms of one or more system variables is referred to as an attenuation profile of the modulator (or element thereof).
  • Fiber fabrication processes continue to advance, in particular with reference to improving a doping concentration and as well as improving manipulation of dopant profiles, periodic doping of fiber during a production run, and related processing activities.
  • US Patent 6,532,774 Method of Providing a High Level of Rare Earth Concentrations in Glass Fiber Preforms, demonstrates improved processes for co-doping of multiple dopants. Successes in increasing the concentration of dopants are anticipated to directly improves the linear Verdet constant of doped cores, as well as the performance of doped cores to facilitate non-linear effects as well.
  • Any given attenuation profile may be tailored to a particular embodiment, such as for example by controlling a composition, orientation, and/or ordering of a modulator or element thereof. For example, changing materials making up transport may change the "influencibility" of the transport or alter the degree to which the influencer "influences” any particular propagating wave_component. This is but one example of a composition attenuation profile.
  • a modulator of the preferred embodiment enables attenuation smoothing in which different waveguiding channels have different attenuation profiles.
  • a modulator may provide a transport for left handed polarized wave_components with a different attenuation profile than the attenuation profile used for the complementary waveguiding channel of a second transport for right handed polarized wave_components.
  • wave_component generation/modification may not be strictly "commutative" in response to an order of modulator elements that the propagating radiation traverses from WAVE_IN to WAVE_OUT. In these instances, it is possible to alter an attenuation profile by providing a different ordering of the non- commutative elements. This is but one example of a configuration attenuation profile. In other embodiments, establishing differing "rotational bias" for each waveguiding channel creates different attenuation profiles. As described above, some transports are configured with a predefined orientation between an input polarizer and an output polarizer/analyzer.
  • this angle may be zero degrees (typically defining a "normally ON” channel) or it may be ninety degrees (typically defining a "normally OFF” channel). Any given channel may have a different response in various angular displacement regions (that is, from zero to thirty degrees, from thirty to sixty degrees, and from sixty to ninety degrees). Different channels may be biased (for example with default "DC" influencer signals) into different displacement regions with the influencer influencing the propagating wave_component about this biased rotation. This is but one example of an operational attenuation profile. Several reasons are present that support having multiple waveguiding channels and to tailor/match/complement attenuation profiles for the channels. These reasons include power saving, efficiency, and uniformity in WAVE_OUT.
  • a variable Faraday rotator or Faraday “attenuator” applies a variable field in the direction of the light path, allowing such a device to rotate the vector of polarization (e.g., from 0 through 90 degrees), permitting an increasing portion of the incident light that passed through the first polarizer to pass through the second polarizer.
  • the vector of polarization e.g., from 0 through 90 degrees
  • the light passing through the first polarizer is completely blocked by the second polarizer.
  • the proper “maximum” field is applied, then 100% of the light is rotated to the proper polarization angle, and 100% of the light passes through the second polarization element.
  • This new paradigm introduced by the preferred flexible waveguide channels (e.g., optical fibers) embodiment of the present invention allows for combinations of fiberoptic and other conductive and IC-structured fibers and filaments in a three-dimensional micro-textile matrix.
  • Larger diameter fibers, as disclosed elsewhere herein, may have integrally fabricated inter- and intra-cladding complete microprocessor devices; smaller fibers may have smaller IC devices; and as photonic crystal fibers and other optical fiber structures, especially single-mode fibers, approach nano-scale diameters, individual fibers may only integrate a few IC features/elements along their cylindrical length.
  • a complex micro-textile matrix may thus be woven with optical fibers of varying diameters, combined with other filaments, including nano-fibers, that are conductive or structural, which also may be fabricated with periodic IC elements inter- or intra-cladding. Fibers may be elements of larger photonic circulator structures, and may be fused or spliced back into the micro-optical network.
  • Fibers of such micro-textile matrices may also be fabricated with cores and claddings of equal indices of refraction, including transparent IC structures, including coilforms/field generation elements, electrodes, transistors, capacitors, etc. etc., such that the woven textile structure may be infused with a sol that when UV cured, possesses the requisite differential refractive index such that the inter- fiber/inter-filament sol becomes, when solidified, the replacement of individual claddings.
  • This procedure may be developed further by successive saturations of the micro- textile structure with baths of electrostatic self-assembly of nanoparticles. Looming action to separate filament strands facilitate any desired patterning of fibers and filaments while woven, although patterning prior to weaving or when fibers or filaments are in semi-parallel combination may be more flexible in some embodiments.
  • An implied micro-textile IC "cube” (or other three-dimensional micro-textile structure) thus may include any number of combinations of larger and smaller optical fibers and other filaments, conductive, micro-capillary and filled with circulating fluid to provide cooling to the structure, and purely structural (or structural by micro- structured fiber with semiconductor elements, and conductive (or conductive-coated with micro-structured inner claddings, electronic and photonic).
  • FIG_9 is a general schematic diagram of a transverse integrated modulator switch/ junction system 900 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
  • System 900 provides a mechanism for redirecting a propagation of radiation in one waveguide channel 905 to another lateral waveguide channel 910 using a pair of lateral ports (port 915 in channel 905 and port 920 in channel 910) in the waveguides as further described below.
  • First channel 905 is configured having influencer segment 925 (e.g., the integrated coilform) and the optional first optional bounding region 930 and second optional bounding region 935 as described above and in the incorporated patent applications. Additionally, first channel 905 includes a polarizer 940 and corresponding analyzer 945 (and may include an optional secondary influencer (not shown for clarity).
  • First channel includes a lateral polarization analyzer port 950 in a portion of the first bounding region 930 proximate port 915 provided in second bounding region 930.
  • An optional material 955 is provided surrounding channel 905 and channel 910 at the junction to improve any lossiness through the junction.
  • Material 955 may be a cured sol, nano-self-assembled special material or the like having a desired index of refraction to decrease signal loss as well as helping to ensure the desired alignment of port 915 and port 920.
  • Influencer 925 controls a polarization of radiation propagating through first channel 905 and an amount of radiation passing through port 915 based upon a relative angle of polarization compared to a transmission axis of analyzer port 950. Further structure and operation of system 900 is described below.
  • Port 915 and port 920 are guiding structures in the bounding region(s) implemented through fused fiber starter method described below or the like and may include GRLN lens structures. These ports may be positioned in precise locations in the bounding regions or the ports may be disposed periodically along a length (or portion of a length) of the channels. In some embodiments, entire portions of one of the bounding regions may have the desired attribute (polarization or port) structure and one or more corresponding structures in the other bounding region at the junction location.
  • Polarizer 940 and analyzer 945 are optional structures that control an amplitude of radiation propagating further down channel 905.
  • Polarizer 940 and analyzer including any optional influencer element for this segment, in cooperation with influencer 925 control radiation between channel 905 and 910.
  • Switching inter-fiber in such a micro-textile architecture may be facilitated by a "transverse" (vs. "in-line”) variant of the integrated micro-Faraday attenuator optical fiber element disclosed elsewhere herein, in the following way.
  • a junction point/ contact point between orthogonally positioned fibers in a textile matrix is the locus of a new type of "light tap" between fibers.
  • the cladding (on the axis of the fiber external to multiple Faraday attenuator sections of the fiber) is micro-structured with periodic refractive index changes to be polarization- filtering (see fiber-integral polarization filtering previously disclosed herein and sub- wavelength nano-grids by NanoOpto Corporation, 1600 Cottontail Lane, Somerset, New Jersey) or polarization asymmetric (referenced and disclosed in the incorporated patent applications).
  • the index of refraction has been altered (by ion implantation, electrically, heating, photoreactively, or by other means known to the art) to be equal to that of the core.
  • the entire first cladding is so microstructured and of equal index of refraction.
  • structural-geometric configurations e.g., photonic coupling and use of sub-wavelength hole-cavity/grid systems
  • guiding and bounding are described using differential indices of refraction - however in those instances, the use of structural-geometric configurations may also be used (unless the context clearly indicates otherwise).
  • This variant of the integrated Faraday-attenuator disclosed herein is fundamentally distinguished from all other prior-art "light-taps," including those of Gemfire Corporation, 1220 Page Avenue, Fremont, California, in which a waveguide itself is collapsed in order to couple semiconductor optical waveguides.
  • the collapse of the waveguiding structures in the Gemfire implementations means the destruction of a virtuous component of any photonic or electro-photonic switching paradigm or network, which ensures efficient transmission of an optical signal between channels.
  • a "light-tap” that does not need, as other conventional types of "light-tap” do, additional and complicated compensations to control the unguided signal between core-regions, is simpler and more efficient by definition.
  • the switching mechanism of the preferred embodiment is not the activation of a poled region, or the activation of an array of electrodes, to effect a grating structure. It is in a preferred embodiment, rather, the in-line Faraday attenuator switch which rotates the angle of polarization of light propagating through a core to, and by virtue of a combining that switch with section of cladding which is effectively a polarization filter, results in the diversion of a precisely controlled portion of signal through the transverse guiding structure in the claddings of the output and input fiber (or waveguide).
  • the speed of the switch is the speed of the Faraday attenuator, as opposed to the speed of changing the chemical characteristics of a relatively extensive region covered by a cathode and anode.
  • a gradient index (GRLN) lens structure in the second cladding and with optical axis at a right angles or close to a right angle to the axis of the fiber, and fabricated according to the methods referenced elsewhere herein and in the incorporated patent applications.
  • the focal path oriented either at right angles to the axis of the optical fiber, or offset slightly, such that light passing through the GRIN lens from first channel 905 will couple at the contact point with second channel 910 and insert at right angles also to the axis of second channel 910, or will insert at an angle into second channel 910 at a preferred direction.
  • Second a simpler optical channel of the same index of refraction as the core (and optionally the first cladding), fabricated by ion implantation, by application of a voltage between electrodes in the manufacturing process, by heating, photoreactively, or by other means known to the art.
  • the axis of this simple waveguiding channel may be at right angles or slightly offset, as in the other option above.
  • Second channel 910 is fabricated to optimally couple the light received from first channel 905 by a parallel structure (GRLN lens or cladding waveguide channel in second cladding) into the polarization-filtering or asymmetric first cladding and from there into the core of second channel 910.
  • a parallel structure GNLN lens or cladding waveguide channel in second cladding
  • a cured sol Surrounding the fiber-to-fiber matrix, as previously indicated, is a cured sol which impregnates the textile-structure, and which possesses a differential index of refraction that confines the light guided between fibers (or waveguides) and ensures efficiency of coupling.
  • An advantageous alternative and novel method of micro-structuring the claddings may be accomplished by the specification of a novel modification of MCVD/ PMCVD/PCVD/OVD preform fabrication methods, a preferred example of which is described below.
  • FIG_10 is general schematic diagram of a series of fabrication steps for transverse integrated modulator switch/junction 900 shown in FIG_9.
  • Fabrication system 1000 includes formation of a block of material 1005 having many waveguiding channels (e.g., a fused-fiber faceplate as described in the incorporated provisional patent application and the like), with thin sections 1010 of block 1005 removed.
  • a section 1010 is softened and prepared to form a starter wall sheet 1015.
  • Sheet 1015 is rolled to form silica starter tube 1020 for producing a desired preform for drawing.
  • the silica tube upon which soots are deposited to grow the preform takes the form of a cylinder fabricated from a rolled and fused thin sheet of fused-fiber cross-sections. That is, optical fibers, optionally of different char- acteristics chosen for appropriate doping characteristics in claddings and cores, alternating such differently-optimized fibers in order to implement grids of thin-fiber sections with different indices of refraction and different electro-optic properties, are fused, and sections of the fused fiber matrix are cut into thin sheets.
  • the dimensions of the fibers employed in the fused fiber sheets are chosen to result in the optimal dimensions of resulting transverse structures in claddings for fibers drawn therefrom. But in general, fibers for this purpose are of minimum possible fabrication dimension (cores and claddings), as structure diameters will effectively increase during the drawing from a preform fabricated thereby. Such fiber dimensions may in fact be, in cross-section, too small for even single-mode use as individual fibers. But combined with the appropriate choice of thickness for the fused-fiber section or slice, the dimensions of the continuously-patterned transverse waveguiding structures in the resulting drawn-fiber cladding may be controlled such that the transverse structures have the desired (single-mode, multi-mode) "core" and "cladding" dimensions.
  • the polarization sections in the core and the first cladding of the first channel, both at the relative "input” end and the relative "output” end may be switchably induced by electrode structures fabricated on or inter-/intra-cladding, according to methods referenced and disclosed in the incorporated patent applications, or by UV excitation, according to known methods, such UV signal which may be generated by devices fabricated inter- or intra-cladding, according to forms and methods disclosed and referenced elsewhere in the incorporated patent applications.
  • electrode structure the switching of the polarization-filtering or asymmetry state may be described as elecro-optic, or if by UV signal, "all optical.”
  • the UV-activated variant is the preferred implementation.
  • Such polarization filtering or asymmetric sections of core and cladding then may be termed “transient,” see US Patent 5,126,874 ("Method and apparatus for creating transient optical elements and circuits” filed 7/11/1990, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated in its entirety by reference herein for all purposes), such that the filter or asymmetry elements may be activated or deactivated, switched “on” or “off,” along with the operation as a variable intensity switching element of the integrated Faraday attenuator.
  • the first cladding may be of the same index as the core, as indicated, with the second cladding possessing the differential index of refraction, such that confinement to the core of the "wrong" polarization is achieved by the polarization filtering or asymmetry structure of the cladding alone.
  • the default setting of the first cladding may be either "on”, confining light to the core by polarization filter/ asymmetry or "off,” allowing light to be guided in core and the first cladding and confined only by the second cladding, and then it may be in sections where the electrode or UV activation elements are structured, switchable to the setting opposite of the default.
  • waveguide channels transversely structured with micro-guiding structures intra and inter-cladding, with IC elements and transistors integrating intra and inter-cladding with these channels, and with integrated in-line and transverse Faraday attenuator devices fabricated as periodic elements of the structure, may carry wave division multiplexed (WDM)-type multi-mode pulsed signals in the core as a bus, which are switched in-line or transverse by the integrated Faraday attenuator means some or all of any signal pulse, through the transverse guiding structures in the claddings, to the semiconductor and photonic structures in the claddings, and also between fibers, serving as buses or as other electro-photonic components.
  • WDM wave division multiplexed
  • Some channels may be nano-scale and single mode with single elements fabricated intra or inter-cladding, or may be larger diameter and multi or single-mode, and fabricated effectively with a very large (near micro-processor) number of semiconductor (electronic and photonic) elements between, in or on the claddings.
  • Channels may serve as buses or individual switching or memory elements, in any number of sizes and combinations with micro-structured IC elements in the fibers themselves, in combination in the overall micro-textile architecture. Switching, and the like thus occurs in the fiber cores, between cores and claddings, between elements in the claddings, and between fibers.
  • optical nanowires which are fabricated, with surface smoothness at the atomic level and tensile strength two-to-five times that of spider silk, by a simple process of winding and heating glass fiber around a sapphire taper and then pulling at relative high-velocities, are extremely well-suited to implementation in a micro-textile structure. Visible to near-infrared wavelengths have been guided in this subwavelength diameter variant of the optical fiber waveguide type, but instead of confinement in a core, approximately half the guided light is carried internally and half evanescently along the surface. Significantly, light may be coupled with low loss by optical evanescent coupling between fibers.
  • optical-fiber embodiments as well as hybrid optical fiber-silicon wafer embodiments, described herein and in the incorporated patent applications address a potential for new cost economies, new applications for what are referred to as a video "display" or projector, and improvements in the overall quality of the displayed image compared to other display types.
  • the present invention includes implementation of precision control over the path of and the characteristics of one or more radiation signals to produce these different magneto-optic displays and projectors.
  • An important element of these devices includes use of waveguiding in general and use of influencer structures (e.g., Faraday att enuators) fabricated integrally to the waveguiding structures, to provide waveguiding- based magneto-optic displays with advantages in all their embodiments and modes of manufacture as described herein, regardless of a specific implementation.
  • influencer structures e.g., Faraday att enuators
  • the semiconductor waveguide-based magneto-optic displays are particularly suited to miniature displays, including an "HDTV display on a chip," as well as projector embodiments and specialized embodiments that are referred to herein as micro-thin display "applique" systems and methods.
  • applique micro-thin display
  • solid-state semiconductor structures involving no liquids or pressure-sealed components in vacuo in their manufacture semiconductor waveguide embodiments of the present invention have the potential to be both significantly cheaper and better-performing than LCD or gas plasma displays.
  • the semiconductor waveguide-based embodiments are generally classified into two broad groups depending upon a waveguide channel axis relative to a surface of the semiconductor structure that supports the particular embodiment.
  • the waveguide channel transmission axis may be parallel to the surface or it may be perpendicular to the surface.
  • FIG_11 is a general schematic illustration of "vertical" display system 1100.
  • Display system 1100 includes a plurality of wafer strips 1105, stacked vertically to produce a collective display surface 1110 from a matrix of pixels/subpixels produced from an edge of each strip 1105.
  • Each pixel/subpixel is produced from a plurality of structured and ordered modulators coupled to transport channel segments, the transports and modulators integrated into each strip 1105, each transport and modulator having the functionality and arrangement possibilities as described herein and in the incorporated patent applications.
  • Display system 1100 is a type of hybrid in that each strip 1105 is formed from a wafer having embedded waveguide channels parallel to the wafer surface, with these strips stacked vertically to produce the display system.
  • System 1100 is achieved by fabricating laminated strips of planar waveguides in parallel arrays of on the order of thousands of Faraday attenuator waveguide channels each, each strip with R, G, or B dye-doped or color filtered channels, laminated together top-bottom so as to form a sheet of laminated strips with waveguide cores in a "vertical" display structure.
  • the laminated strips of such planar Faraday attenuator waveguide channels, without deflection means, thus form a display array through their output ends, the display surface formed by viewing waveguide structures on-end, directed "outwards"; the thin-substrate and surrounding matrix are all that separate individual Faraday attenuator waveguide channels.
  • System 1100 employs an illumination source opposite display surface 1110 or integrated into the transport segments of each pixel/subpixel element.
  • FIG_12 is a detailed schematic diagram of a portion of one strip 1105 shown in FIG_11.
  • the close-up of FIG_12 illustrates a plurality of transport segments 1205 (shown as cylindrical elements) running laterally from an input edge 1210 to an output edge 1215, with each segment 1205 parallel to a surface 1220.
  • An influencer element 1225 (shown as a rectilinear element) is coupled to each segment 1205 to produce a modulator, each responsive to an X-Y addressing grid (a single element shown as X 1230 and Y 1235).
  • the portion of strip 1105 shown in FIG_12 includes two pixels, each having three subpixels producing radiation signals of a preferred color model (in this case: R, G, and B subchannels).
  • FIG_13 is an alternate preferred embodiment for a display system 1300 implementing a semiconductor waveguide display/projector as a vertical solution using vertical waveguide channels in the semiconductor structure.
  • Display system 1300 includes a fused fiber transparent substrate 1305 upon which is disposed a plurality of vertical waveguide channels 1310.
  • Each channel 1310 when implemented similar to conventional optical fibers, includes one or more bounding regions - specifically an optional first bounding region 1315 and a second bounding region 1320.
  • Bounding region 1315 is, in the differential guiding example, a material having a differential refraction index and doped with permanent magnetic materials.
  • Second bounding region 1320 is, in the differential index guiding example, a material having a differential refraction index and is doped with ferri/ferro-magnetic dopants.
  • An assembled influencer element 1325 e.g., a coilform or other appropriate magnetic field generating structure
  • An X-Y addressing grid 1335 is disposed for independent connection/ control of each influencer element 1325. Additional details for the structure, function, and operation of the waveguide channel, the bounding regions, the coilform, and X/Y grid are as described above and in the incorporated patent applications.
  • a preferred fabrication of the structure by standard semiconductor deposition, masking, and etching is as follows. On a transparent fused-fiber substrate is deposited a doped-silica material. A first deposition of transparent material is made, doped with dye, one color of the RGB primaries, and with optically-active dopant similar to the optical fiber embodiments of the present invention; and a mask is then made such that rows of circular pillars remain; for every row left remaining, there are two rows between that are etched down to the substrate. Each pillar of doped material is positioned exactly above an optical fiber in the fused-fiber faceplate, such fibers themselves also dye-doped and with a core of the same dimensions as the silica pillars. The process of forming rows of pillars is repeated, so that sets of RGB rows are formed by sequence of deposition and etching.
  • a f em/ferromagnetic material that, as is previously disclosed in the fiber optic embodiments, preferably possesses a remanent flux upon magnetization by a proximate influencer (for example a surrounding coilform).
  • FIG_14 is an illustration showing the two-layers (a first layer 1400 and a second layer 1405) that successively constitute the "coilform" pattern: a partial circle, defining a cylinder wall, on the first layer, the terminus connecting vertically in the same conductive material to a very thin second layer deposited above. On that second layer, only a very minimal segment of a circle (a tiny arc of a cylinder wall) of the conductive material is masked and remains after etching, and then an insulating very thin layer is deposited around it.
  • a conductive grid is formed by standard methods, including newer methods such as dip-pen nanolithography, on the substrate to address the "base" of each of the Faraday attenuator waveguide structures, contacting at the bottom-most circle at the input point of the partial circle.
  • a black matrix is deposited in the thin gaps between the semiconductor- fabricated Faraday attenuator structures.
  • a difference is that the bandgap structure channels the light, and a dif- ferential-index of refraction "cladding" is not necessary to confine light (but only as a doped cylinder of ferri ferromagnetic material around the light channel, and, optionally, a first doped cylinder of permanently magnetizable material)
  • an "upper" addressing grid including, when required or desirable by materials performance, is deposited on the black matrix between the waveguide structures.
  • the black matrix is deposited only so high relative to the top of the vertical waveguide structure that a transistor addressed by the conductive addressing grid is formed as a vertically-aligned semiconductor component along side the waveguide structure, and fabricated advantageously between the alternating layers required for the coilform structure.
  • additional black (opaque) matrix is deposited above the addressing grid and optional vertically-disposed transistors, so that the semiconductor wafer structure is flush.
  • an optical scattering structure may be formed, disposed, and/or deposited directly at the "output" point of the vertical waveguide structures, to improve the already superior angle of dispersion from the waveguide structure.
  • FIG_15 is an alternate preferred embodiment for a display system 1500 implementing a semiconductor waveguide display/projector as a planar solution using planar waveguide channels in a semiconductor structure.
  • System 1500 includes one or more illumination sources at an edge of system 1500 that feed a large number of extremely narrow waveguide channels to supply uniform illumination to each subpixel.
  • System 1500 includes a number of functional layers, including an input layer, a rotator layer, and a display layer. On bottom layers, each subpixel row (from X & Y axes) feeds a large number of extremely narrow waveguide channels to supply the uniform illumination to each subpixel.
  • each row has (for 3000 width) 1500 waveguide channels, each channel terminates in a subpixel on that row.
  • X & Y axis address alternate subpixels. From the X-axis, each row contains about 1350 channels, with the X and Y axis each on a separate layer.
  • the waveguide channels are photonic crystal structured waveguides fabricated at 0.02 microns or less. Each waveguide terminates at a subpixel location (in some implementations, multiple channels may illuminate a single subpixel location) and may define complex pathways to position an output location at the desired location for the subpixel.
  • a deflecting mechanism is provided at the output location to redirect a propagated and amplitude-controlled radiation signal out of the propagation plane into the display plane.
  • the display plane is perpendicular to the propagation plane.
  • one or more influencer/ modulator portions/layers are provided to produce the desired amplitude control of the propagated radiation signal. It is preferable that the output of waveguide channel, since the waveguide channel is so much smaller than the subpixel diameter, include a dispersion or optical element to increase an effective size.
  • One advantage of a planar semiconductor optical waveguide embodiment of a transport/influencer combination, combined in a display array, is in fabricating an extremely thin superficial semiconductor-process display structure in which the illumination source is provided from the "sides" in parallel to the planar optical waveguides.
  • the illumination source so provided may be in an extremely compact form, such as parallel row of RGB semiconductor lasers, VCSEL or edge-emitting.
  • the structure may be fabricated as thick-films, on a rigid or flexible substrate, including textile sealed with polymer.
  • the display may be applied as an "applique," in effect tiling curved geometric surfaces with thin display material.
  • a primary semiconductor-fabricated layer consists of a plurality of planer waveguides that channel light from side-illumination sources (versus illumination from an entire back cavity illumination source parallel to the display surface, as in flat panel display embodiments disclosed above).
  • FIG_16 is a cross-section of a transport/ influencer system 1600 integrated into the semiconductor structure for propagating a radiation signal 1605, combined with a deflecting mechanism 1610 that re-directs light "valved" by the waveguide/influencer from the horizontal plane to the vertical.
  • a representative fabrication process of the preferred embodiment includes the following.
  • a thick-film material is deposited on a substrate, such that the thick-film is robust enough in tensile strength to be self-substrative, and if removed from the working substrate, will retain its integrity.
  • semiconductor lithographic processes deposition or printing of material, masking and etching, etc., dip-pen nanolithography
  • optically transparent but dye-doped material is deposited on the thickfilm substrate.
  • This first deposition is also doped with optically-active material, such as YIG, Bi-YIB, or Tb, or current best-performing dopant. All materials are preferably flexible, according to the same Young's modulus as the thick-film substrate.
  • a column" of the dye and optically-active doped material of the channel is deposited and etched to leave a column directly above the 45 degree deflection element, which in effect forms the exit point from the plane of the display surface, for the light switched by the modulator device along the light channel adjacent and deflected by the 45 degree deflection element.
  • a material is deposited with the same differential index of refraction, surrounding and covering the original lines and other fabricated elements. This is called the "cladding material.”
  • space is etched from the previously deposited material for the following: allowing for conductive lines in parallel and above the light channels, to address the horizontal bands that will also be fabricated above the light channel and at right-angles to it axis; space for depositing the conductive material for the bands, as well as a layer of material beneath to be doped with ferri/ferro-magnetic material is also etched. Space below that material is optionally left for deposition of material doped with permanently magnetizable material, the function of which is detailed herein and in the incorporated patent applications.
  • the following material is deposited (with successive masking and etching and or dip-pen nano-lithography: the conductive material in lines parallel to the light channels to address the field-generating bands; an optional layer of permanently magnetizable (and subsequently, magnetized) material above the "cladding" material left above the light-channel; the ferri/ferro-magnetic material that will be temporarily magnetized by the field-generating elements and maintain rotation through remanent flux; and the bands of field generating conductive material disposed at right angles to the axis of the light channel. Only a few bands, based on current dopant performance, may be necessary
  • the entire thick-film display structure may be formed on a robust polymer sealed textile substrate, or removed from a forming substrate and adhered by thick-film epitaxy to another (potentially geometrically complex) final supporting display surface.
  • FIG_17 is a schematic illustration of display system 1500 shown in FIG_15 further illustrating three subpixel channels producing a single pixel. Each channel is independently controlled and deflected to be merged at the surface of system 1500.
  • FIG_ 18 illustrates a preferred embodiment for an optional implementation of a waveguide pathing structure in a system 1800. To compensate for the confined dimensions of a planar modulator scheme, in which rotation must be accomplished across the diameter of a pixel 1805, a novel "switchback" strategy is employed for a waveguide 1810.
  • FIG_11 through FIG_18 describe substrated waveguiding channels implementing the transport, modulation, and display structures, functions, and operation included in the incorporated patent applications. These embodiments emphasize a substitutability between waveguide channels formed/ disposed/arranged in a substrate and independent/discrete waveguide channels such as optical fibers and photonic crystal fibers.
  • One of those substitutions is use of the transverse switch shown in FIG_9 and FIG_10. While that preferred embodiment includes fiber-to-fiber switching, the principles of FIG_9 may be applied to waveguide-to-waveguide switching, particularly between appropriately structured and arranged waveguides disposed in a common substrate. In some implementations, switching is between waveguides of different substrates arranged in appropriate relationships.
  • a display face of an electronic goggle system of the preferred embodiment may be separated from the modulating/switching matrix, thus allowing for a high-intensity image to be conveyed from a remote location, such as for example within a helicopter's electronics package, via waveguides such as fiber-optic bundles to a fused fiber-optic faceplate in a VR goggle device or devices (sharing source).
  • a remote location such as for example within a helicopter's electronics package
  • waveguides such as fiber-optic bundles to a fused fiber-optic faceplate in a VR goggle device or devices (sharing source).
  • Fiber-optic faceplates have been in the past employed in conjunction with other display sources, such as CRT or LCD, but such sources were limited in either resolution or brightness, due to the imprecise interfacing of the fiber to a phosphor screen in the first instance and the brightness limitations of LCD in the second instance.
  • LCOS while resulting in greater brightness, poses significant integration problems with fiber.
  • the present invention including a preferred embodiment including an integral fiber-to-fiberoptic faceplate solution in this context, or a waveguide-to-fiber solution, overcomes the limitations of prior approaches.
  • an extremely thin semiconductor sandwich scheme as detailed in this section above, may be employed with side-illumination from optical fibers in a virtual reality goggle design wherein the switching matrix is contained in or near the display face.
  • a brightness, speed, viewing angle, and optical qualities of the display face in either approach offer significant improvements in the performance and cost of nightvision and virtual reality headgear in general, for all applications.
  • FIG_19 is a front perspective view of a preferred embodiment for an electronic goggle system 1900 using substrated waveguide display systems. As shown , the substrated waveguide system is shown as a stereoscopic pair of substrated waveguide display systems 1905 as described above. Additionally, system 1900 includes a port 1910 for communication of power/data. FIG_20 is a side perspective view of electronic goggle system 1900shown in FIG_19.
  • performance attributes of the transports, modulators, and systems embodying aspects of the present invention include the following.
  • Sub-pixel diameter (including field generation elements adjacent to optically active material): preferably ⁇ 100 microns more preferably ⁇ 50 microns.
  • Length of sub-pixel element is preferably ⁇ 100 microns and more preferably ⁇ 50 microns.
  • Response time Extremely high for Faraday rotators in general (i.e., 1 ns has been demonstrated).
  • RGB sub-pixel Since only pure white requires an equally intense combination of RGB sub-pixels in a cluster, it should be noted that for either color or gray-scale images, it is a some fraction of the display's sub-pixels that will be addressed at any one time. Colors formed additively by RGB combination implies the following: some color pixels will require only one (either R, G, or B) sub-pixel (at varying intensity) to be “on”, some pixels will require two sub-pixels (at varying intensities) to be "on”, and some pixels will require three sub-pixels, (at varying intensities) to be "on”.
  • Pure white pixels will require all three sub-pixels to be "on,” with their Faraday attenuators rotated to achieve equal intensity. (Color and white pixels can be juxtaposed to desaturate color; in one alternative embodiment of the present invention, an additional sub-pixel in a "cluster" may be balanced white-light, to achieve more efficient control over saturation).
  • 0-50 m.amps for 0-90° Rotation is considered a Minimum Spec It is also important to note that an example current range for 0-90° rotation has been given (0-50 m.amps) from performance specs of existing Faraday attenuator devices, but this performance spec is provided as a minimum, already clearly being superseded and surpassed by the state- of-the-art of reference devices for optical communications. It most importantly does not reflect the novel embodiments specified in the present invention, including the benefits from improved methods and materials technology. Performance improvements have been ongoing since the achievement of the specs cited, and if anything have been and will continue to be accelerating, further reducing this range.
  • the system, method, computer program product, and propagated signal described in this application may, of course, be embodied in hardware; e.g., within or coupled to a Central Processing Unit (“CPU”), microprocessor, microcontroller, System on Chip (“SOC”), or any other programmable device.
  • the system, method, computer program product, and propagated signal may be embodied in software (e.g., computer readable code, program code, instructions and/or data disposed in any form, such as source, object or machine language) disposed, for example, in a computer usable (e.g., readable) medium configured to store the software.
  • software e.g., computer readable code, program code, instructions and/or data disposed in any form, such as source, object or machine language
  • a computer usable (e.g., readable) medium configured to store the software.
  • Such software enables the function, fabrication, modeling, simulation, description and/or testing of the apparatus and processes described herein.
  • this can be accomplished through the use of general programming languages (e.g., C, C++), GDSII databases, hardware description languages (HDL) including Verilog HDL, VHDL, AHDL (Altera HDL) and so on, or other available programs, databases, nanoprocessing, and/or circuit (i.e., schematic) capture tools.
  • Such software can be disposed in any known computer usable medium including semiconductor, magnetic disk, optical disc (e.g., CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, etc.) and as a computer data signal embodied in a computer usable (e.g., readable) transmission medium (e.g., carrier wave or any other medium including digital, optical, or analog-based medium).
  • the software can be transmitted over communication networks including the Internet and intranets.
  • a system, method, computer program product, and propagated signal embodied in software may be included in a semiconductor intellectual property core (e.g., embodied in HDL) and transformed to hardware in the production of integrated circuits.
  • a system, method, computer program product, and propagated signal as described herein may be embodied as a combination of hardware and software.
  • One of the preferred implementations of the present invention is as a routine in an operating system made up of programming steps or instructions resident in a memory of a computing system during computer operations.
  • the program instructions may be stored in another readable medium, e.g. in a disk drive, or in a removable memory, such as an optical disk for use in a CD ROM computer input or in a floppy disk for use in a floppy disk drive computer input.
  • 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 a WAN, such as the Internet, when required by the user of the present invention.
  • LAN or a WAN such as the Internet
  • routines of the present invention Any suitable programming language can be used to implement the routines of the present invention including C, C++, Java, assembly language, etc. Different programming techniques can be employed such as procedural or object oriented.
  • the routines can execute on a single processing device or multiple processors. Although the steps, operations or computations may be presented in a specific order, this order may be changed in different embodiments. In some embodiments, multiple steps shown as sequential in this specification can be performed at the same time.
  • the sequence of operations described herein can be interrupted, suspended, or otherwise controlled by another process, such as an operating system, kernel, etc.
  • the routines can operate in an operating system environment or as stand-alone routines occupying all, or a substantial part, of the system processing.
  • a "computer-readable medium” for purposes of embodiments of the present invention may be any medium that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, system or device.
  • the computer readable medium can be, by way of example only but not by limitation, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, system, device, propagation medium, or computer memory.
  • a "processor” or “process” includes any human, hardware and/or software system, mechanism or component that processes data, signals or other information.
  • a processor can include a system with a general-purpose central processing unit, multiple processing units, dedicated circuitry for achieving functionality, or other systems. Processing need not be limited to a geographic location, or have temporal limitations. For example, a processor can perform its functions in "real time,” “offline,” in a “batch mode,” etc. Portions of processing can be performed at different times and at different locations, by different (or the same) processing systems.
  • Embodiments of the invention may be implemented by using a programmed general purpose digital computer, by using application specific integrated circuits, programmable logic devices, field programmable gate arrays, optical, chemical, biological, quantum or nanoengineered systems, components and mechanisms may be used.
  • 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.
  • Communication, or transfer, of data may be wired, wireless, or by any other means.

Abstract

L'invention concerne un dispositif et un procédé destinés à un système de lunettes monté sur substrat et un système de lunettes comprenant un ensemble de composants. Ce système de lunettes électroniques comprend un ou plusieurs substrats semi-conducteurs, chaque substrat supportant : une pluralité de structures guide d'onde intégrées, chaque structure guide d'onde comprenant un canal de guidage et une ou plusieurs zones de délimitation permettant la propagation d'un signal optique d'une entrée vers une sortie, et un système influenceur réagissant à une commande, et couplé aux structures de guide d'onde, permettant de régler de manière indépendante l'amplitude de chaque signal optique au niveau de la sortie, un système d'affichage arrangeant les sorties de la pluralité de structures guides d'onde de manière à former une matrice de présentation, et une structure de lunettes de type visiocasque, permettant de placer la matrice de présentation dans le champ de vision d'un utilisateur. L'invention concerne également un procédé de fonctionnement consistant à : a) assurer la propagation d'un signal optique à travers chacune des structures guides d'onde supportées par un ou plusieurs substrats, et formant la matrice de présentation, chaque structure guide d'onde comprenant un canal de guidage et une ou plusieurs zones de délimitation assurant la propagation d'un signal optique d'une entrée vers une sortie ; b) régler indépendamment l'amplitude de chaque signal optique à la sortie de la structure guide d'onde correspondante ; c) coordonner le réglage d'amplitude des signaux optiques pour la pluralité de structures guides d'ondes afin que ces dernières forment conjointement un système d'afficheur à partir d'une succession de signaux optiques commandés en amplitude, et d) placer le système d'affichage dans le champ de vision d'un utilisateur.
PCT/IB2005/050557 2004-02-12 2005-02-12 Dispositif, procede et progiciel pour systeme de lunettes a guides d'ondes et a substrats/composants WO2005076721A2 (fr)

Priority Applications (4)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CN2005800109836A CN101124498B (zh) 2004-02-12 2005-02-12 用于衬底化/构件化波导化护目镜系统的装置、方法
JP2006552770A JP2007527032A (ja) 2004-02-12 2005-02-12 基板付きの／コンポーネント化された導波ゴーグルシステムのための装置、方法及びコンピュータプログラム製品
EP05702970A EP1766450A2 (fr) 2004-02-12 2005-02-12 Dispositif, procede et progiciel pour systeme de lunettes a guides d'ondes et a substrats/composants
AU2005213229A AU2005213229A1 (en) 2004-02-12 2005-02-12 Apparatus, method, and computer program product for substrated/componentized waveguided goggle system

Applications Claiming Priority (12)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US54459104P 2004-02-12 2004-02-12
US60/544,591 2004-02-12
US10/812,295 2004-03-29
US10/812,295 US20050180674A1 (en) 2004-02-12 2004-03-29 Faraday structured waveguide display
US10/906,226 US20060056794A1 (en) 2004-02-12 2005-02-09 System, method, and computer program product for componentized displays using structured waveguides
US10/906,223 US20050201698A1 (en) 2004-02-12 2005-02-09 System, method, and computer program product for faceplate for structured waveguide system
US10/906,226 2005-02-09
US10/906,223 2005-02-09
US10/906,259 2005-02-11
US10/906,261 2005-02-11
US10/906,261 US20060110090A1 (en) 2004-02-12 2005-02-11 Apparatus, method, and computer program product for substrated/componentized waveguided goggle system
US10/906,259 US20050201654A1 (en) 2004-02-12 2005-02-11 Apparatus, method, and computer program product for substrated waveguided display system

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US7854505B2 (en) 2006-03-15 2010-12-21 The Board Of Trustees Of The University Of Illinois Passive and active photonic crystal structures and devices
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CN114153042A (zh) * 2015-01-20 2022-03-08 微软技术许可有限责任公司 金属包装的石墨层热管

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US7854505B2 (en) 2006-03-15 2010-12-21 The Board Of Trustees Of The University Of Illinois Passive and active photonic crystal structures and devices
EP2092391A1 (fr) * 2006-12-06 2009-08-26 Panorama Synergy Ltd Résonateur à micro-bague magnéto-optique et commutateur
EP2092391A4 (fr) * 2006-12-06 2010-09-22 Panorama Synergy Ltd Résonateur à micro-bague magnéto-optique et commutateur
CN114153042A (zh) * 2015-01-20 2022-03-08 微软技术许可有限责任公司 金属包装的石墨层热管
CN111812215A (zh) * 2020-07-22 2020-10-23 南京航空航天大学 一种飞行器结构损伤的监测方法

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WO2005076721A3 (fr) 2007-01-25
WO2005076721A9 (fr) 2006-10-19
JP2007527032A (ja) 2007-09-20
EP1766450A2 (fr) 2007-03-28

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