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AssigneeNEC Corporation
InventorKen-ichi Takatori
Estimating the term…
A light modulator is comprised of two unit devices each using surface plasmon generated at the interface between thin metal films respectively formed on prisms and an electro-optical material, and a mirror. Both of the transmitted light due to absorption and re-radiation, and the reflected light arising from the unit devices are made into the outgoing light, the incident light on the next unit device, or the incident light on the mirror. Consequently, all light beams can be utilized as the final outgoing light beams with no loss of light. Further, the color of light can be spatially divided, and still further, it can also be temporally divided by changing the wavelength due to a voltage. As a result, the original light can be divided both temporally and spatially with almost no loss by combining two unit devices so configured as to re-radiate the absorbed light by surface plasmon using surface plasmon and a mirror, and thus utilizing both of the reflected light and the transmitted light.
A light modulator using surface plasmon generated at the interface between a thin metal film and an electro-optical material, comprising two unit devices and a mirror, wherein said two unit devices, each comprising a pair of prisms individually provided with thin metal films at their respective undersides, and said thin metal films being oppositely disposed with an air gap in between, and a piezo material being disposed on one surface of said prism through which the light to be modulated will not pass, and said two unit devices are disposed in parallel to each other such that respective one surfaces of the one prisms of said unit devices are in contact with each other so as to ensure the arrangement of said thin metal films in parallel relation to each other, and said mirror is disposed such that the mirror side thereof faces the direction in parallel to said thin metal films, and extends along the top of the prism of one unit device on the side thereof not in contact with another unit device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.