Patent · US Expired

Modulator for a light beam

US5450231A · kind A · utility

7Cited by

5References

12Claims

0Family size

Assignee

Ascom Tech AG · CH

Inventors

Rainer Battig · Zürich, CH
Paul Vogel · Weingarten, DE

Key dates

Filing date	Nov 18, 1993
Grant date	Sep 12, 1995
Priority date	—
Expiry date	Nov 18, 2013

Classification

Technology area (CPC G)Physics
CPC primaryG02B6/3594
WIPO fieldOptics
WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A light modulator for modulating a light beam which emerges in the shape of a cone from an optical fiber. The modulator has a mirror which can be brought into at least two different states. In the one of these states, the light diverges in such a way that only a small portion returns back into the fiber. In the other of these states, however, more of the light returns back into the fiber. In one embodiment, the mirror is embodied as an etched semiconductor foil and is deformed by the force of a variable electrostatic field between the foil and an electrode which has been placed on a substrate.

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