TIR Electro-optic modulator with individually addressed electrodes
AssigneeXerox Corporation
InventorsRobert A. Sprague, Richard V. Johnson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Apparatus for converting an electronic signal pattern which comprises a plurality of electronic signals into an image comprising a line of light, with a light intensity profile determined by the electronic signal pattern to achieve a visible display of the signal pattern. A TIR (total internal reflection) type of electro-optic device which has each electrode individually addressed is utilized. To record the displayed signal pattern, the electro-optic device is imaged as a line onto a recording plane so that each individually addressed element of the electro-optic device acts as a light modulator or gate for one picture element along the recording line.
Claims15
An electro-optic modulator for providing modulated phase fronts of light incident thereon comprising:
- an electro-optical material,
- an electrode pattern array formed on a predetermined surface of said material, said electrode pattern array comprising first and second sets of electrodes, each of the electrodes of said first set being addressable by individual voltage levels, said second set of electrodes being connected to a common voltage level, the voltage levels applied to said first set of electrodes inducing an electric field adjacent said predetermined surface, and
- means for generating light and directing such generated light in a manner such that the light is incident on the material and suffers a single internal reflection from said predetermined surface and travels in a direction substantially parallel to the length of said first and second sets of electrodes, said electric field producing a simultaneous phase modulation of the incident light beam corresponding to the location of each electrode, the local magnitude of which is related to the voltage level applied to that electrode.
A system for converting phase front modulations of a light output beam from an electro-optic modulator produced by an electronic signal pattern applied to the modulator into an image comprising a line of intensity modulated light spots comprising:
- an electro-optical material,
- an electrode array pattern formed on a predetermined surface of said material, said electrode array comprising a first and second set of electrodes, each of the first set of electrodes being addressable by individual voltage levels, said second set of electrodes being connected to a common voltage level, the voltage levels applied to said first set of electrodes inducing an electric field adjacent said predetermined surface,
- means for generating light and directing such generated light in a manner such that light is incident on the material and suffers a single internal reflection from said predetermined surface and travels in a direction substantially parallel to the length of the electrodes, said electric field producing a simultaneous phase modulation of the incident light beam corresponding to the location of each electrode, the local magnitude of which is related to the voltage level applied to that electrode,
- means located after said material for focusing the light output beam from the material at a Fourier transform plane,
- spatial filtering means positioned with respect to said Fourier transform plane for making the phase modulations visible as intensity variations, and
- imaging means located after said focusing means for forming an image of the electro-optical material at an output image plane.
A recording device comprising:
- a light gate array comprising an electro-optic material having an electrode pattern array formed on a predetermined surface of said material, said electrode pattern array comprising a plurality of electrodes extending along a first direction of said material, selected ones of said electrodes being addressable by individual voltage levels, the voltage levels applied to said electrodes inducing an electric field adjacent said predetermined surface,
- means for generating light and directing such light towards said material, the light beam incident on said material being at least as wide as the extent of said electrodes in said first direction, said electric field simultaneously modifying the characteristic of the light beam exiting from the locations corresponding to the locations of said addressed electrodes,
- optical means positioned in the optical path following said material for imaging said electro-optic material at an output image plane as a plurality of light spots corresponding to the location of said addressed electrodes, and
- a recording media located at said output image plane and responsive to said plurality of light spots to form a record thereof.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.