High-speed wavelength-scale spatial light modulators with two- dimensional tunable microcavity arrays
US11614643B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 18, 2020 |
| Grant date | Mar 28, 2023 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 1, 2041 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG02F2203/50
- WIPO fieldOptics
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A reflective spatial light modulator (SLM) made of an electro-optic material in a one-sided Fabry-Perot resonator can provide phase and/or amplitude modulation with fine spatial resolution at speeds over a Gigahertz. The light is confined laterally within the electro-optic material/resonator layer stack with microlenses, index perturbations, or by patterning the layer stack into a two-dimensional (2D) array of vertically oriented micropillars. Alternatively, a photonic crystal guided mode resonator can vertically and laterally confine the resonant mode. In phase-only modulation mode, each SLM pixel can produce a π phase shift under a bias voltage below 10 V, while maintaining nearly constant reflection amplitude. This high-speed SLM can be used in a wide range of new applications, from fully tunable metasurfaces to optical computing accelerators, high-speed interconnects, true 2D phased array beam steering, beam forming, or quantum computing with cold atom arrays.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.