Patent · US Expired

Thin-film optical waveguide

US3990775A · kind A · utility

10Cited by

3References

2Claims

0Family size

Assignee

Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc. · US

Inventors

Ivan P. Kaminow · Tinton Falls, US
Herwig Werner Kogelnik · Fair Haven, US

Key dates

Filing date	Jul 23, 1973
Grant date	Nov 9, 1976
Priority date	—
Expiry date	Jul 23, 1993

Classification

Technology area (CPC G)Physics
CPC primaryG02F1/035
WIPO fieldOptics
WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

It is known to form an optical waveguiding thin film on a substrate. For various practical reasons, it is often desired that an optical beam coupled to the film be laterally confined so as to propagate only in a longitudinal stripe portion of the film. As disclosed herein, this is accomplished by depositing a material on a selected portion of the film surface to establish in a narrow longitudinal region of the film an effective index of refraction that is higher than the index of the remainder of the film. In this way a longitudinal waveguiding stripe is formed in the film without the necessity of irradiating, etching or otherwise directly treating the film itself.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.