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Title: Electrically-programmable diffraction grating

Patent ·
OSTI ID:871582
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [2]
  1. Albuquerque, NM
  2. Brookline, MA
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An electrically-programmable diffraction grating. The programmable grating includes a substrate having a plurality of electrodes formed thereon and a moveable grating element above each of the electrodes. The grating elements are electrostatically programmable to form a diffraction grating for diffracting an incident beam of light as it is reflected from the upper surfaces of the grating elements. The programmable diffraction grating, formed by a micromachining process, has applications for optical information processing (e.g. optical correlators and computers), for multiplexing and demultiplexing a plurality of light beams of different wavelengths (e.g. for optical fiber communications), and for forming spectrometers (e.g. correlation and scanning spectrometers).

Research Organization:
Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), Albuquerque, NM, and Livermore, CA (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-94AL85000
Assignee:
Sandia Corporation (Albuquerque, NM)
Patent Number(s):
US 5757536
OSTI ID:
871582
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (11)

Electrostatic Comb Drive Levitation And Control Method journal December 1992
A miniature Fabry-Perot interferometer with a corrugated silicon diaphragm support journal November 1991
Performance of nonplanar silicon diaphragms under large deflections journal June 1994
Design, fabrication, and testing of silicon microgimbals for super-compact rigid disk drives journal March 1995
Deformable grating optical modulator journal January 1992
Miniature Fabry-Perot interferometers micromachined in silicon for use in optical fiber WDM systems conference January 1991
Micromechanical light modulator array fabricated on silicon journal October 1977
Deformable-Mirror Spatial Light Modulators conference May 1990
A 128 X 128 frame-addressed deformable mirror spatial light modulator journal January 1991
A bulk silicon dissolved wafer process for microelectromechanical devices journal June 1992
Design of sealed cavity microstructures formed by silicon wafer bonding journal June 1993

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electrically-programmable
diffraction
grating
programmable
substrate
plurality
electrodes
formed
thereon
moveable
element
elements
electrostatically
form
diffracting
incident
beam
light
reflected
upper
surfaces
micromachining
process
applications
optical
information
processing
correlators
computers
multiplexing
demultiplexing
beams
wavelengths
fiber
communications
forming
spectrometers
correlation
scanning
electrodes formed
upper surface
diffraction grating
optical fiber
light beam
light beams
incident beam
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optical information
machining process
micromachining process
electrically-programmable diffraction
information processing
grating element
formation process
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