High-speed, low-power optical modulation apparatus and method
AssigneeArete Associates
InventorsDavid Kane, Nicol McGruer
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Abstract
A gap in an optical guideway is occupied, when the switch is in its diverting condition, by a quantity of air or other gas. To change the switch to its through condition, an actuator forces a column of liquid against the gas to compress (and thereby displace) the gas in the gap with the liquid. The actuator includes a preferably wide reservoir of the liquid and a diaphragm which is flexed to force the liquid up the column against the gas. When the actuator is deactivated the compressed gas forces the column of liquid out of the gap to return the switch to the diverting condition.
Claims22
An optical-modulation method comprising the steps of:
- moving exactly one liquid-gas interface, through manipulation of a gas bubble by the liquid;
- and
- using the position of the interface to control light transmission along a light path.
An optical-modulation method comprising the steps of:
- compression, by a liquid, of a preexisting bubble of gas of a substance different from the liquid;
- and
- using relationships between properties of the liquid and the gas to control light transmission along a light path.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.