Electro-Optic Radiometer to Detect Radiation
AssigneeLumera Corporation
InventorMary Koenig
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Apparatus and associated systems, methods and computer program products relate to an electro-optic device that includes a drive electrode that is substantially resonant with millimeter wave and/or terahertz wave radiation. In various embodiments, the drive electrode may comprise at least one structure with an absorption resonance at the frequency of interest (e.g., 94 gigahertz, 120 gigahertz, 1 terahertz). In some embodiments, such periodic structures may be terminated with a characteristic impedance that substantially enhances the absorption resonance.
Claims29
A device to detect electromagnetic radiation, the device comprising:
- a resonant drive electrode comprising structural elements configured to tune the resonant drive electrode to absorb radiation in a selected frequency band, said structural elements comprising periodic parallel capacitive structures connected by inductive transmission lines;
- a reference conductor arranged such that electric fields extend between the resonant drive electrode and the reference conductor in response to said absorbed radiation;
- and
- an electro-optic waveguide between the resonant drive electrode and the reference conductor, wherein an optical signal propagating through the electro-optic waveguide responds to said electric fields.
An electro-optical system to image received electromagnetic signals, the system comprising:
- a resonant drive electrode arranged in a first planar layer to receive an incident electromagnetic signal, the resonant drive electrode comprising structural elements configured to tune the resonant drive electrode to absorb said incident electromagnetic signal in a predetermined frequency band and to substantially attenuate absorption of the received electromagnetic signal outside of the predetermined frequency band, said structural elements comprising periodic parallel capacitive structures connected by inductive transmission lines;
- and
- an electro-optically active optical waveguide in a second planar layer substantially parallel to the first planar layer and arranged such that an optical signal propagating in the waveguide responds to said absorbed electromagnetic signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.