Optical Pick-Up Unit
Granted: February 28, 2008
Application Number:
20080049584
An optical pick-up including a fold mirror having an achromatic quarter-wave plate coating is provided. To allow the thin film coating to efficiently provide the quarter-wave retardation, the optical pick-up is configured such that the polarization of light incident on the fold mirror is at a predetermined angle. According to one embodiment, the predetermined angle is provided by rotating the light sources. According to another embodiment, the predetermined angle is provided by rotating…
System And Method For Payment Of Goods Or Services
Granted: February 21, 2008
Application Number:
20080041935
A method and system is disclosed for payment for goods or services. This disclosure provides a method whereby having cash or credit card in hand is not required to make a purchase. The method requires using information related to an account such as a credit card to process a request for a seat reservation or ticket to an event. Then a seat reservation or ticket to the event is issued. The user decides what the credit limit shall be extended for this event. In a second transaction…
Asymmetric Mach-Zehnder Interferometer Having A Reduced Drive Voltage Coupled To A Compact Low-Loss Arrayed Waveguide Grating
Granted: February 21, 2008
Application Number:
20080044122
The invention relates to an asymmetric Mach Zehnder Interferometer (MZI) having a reduced drive voltage, coupled to a compact low-loss arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) to provide a broader passband with low ripple. The integrated device has a compact stackable design for improved manufacturing yield. Inputs and outputs of the device are disposed in alignment on opposite sides of a silicon chip with the MZI having an opposite curvature to the AWG. To achieve this alignment, waveguide arms…
Planar Lightwave Circuit Based Wavelength Selective Switch
Granted: February 7, 2008
Application Number:
20080031570
The present invention extends the concept of a standard array waveguide grating (AWG), which focuses each wavelength component launched via an input AWG to a Rowland circle inside a planar lightwave chip (PLC) where discrete waveguides are located, to one which focuses each wavelength component outside of the PLC chip along a straight line. An array of MEMS mirrors or other redirecting elements is positioned at the focus location for independently redirecting each of the wavelength…
Patterned Optical Structures With Enhanced Security Feature
Granted: January 31, 2008
Application Number:
20080024847
A security article is a substrate having a diffractive grating thereon, coated with a windowed high index layer and a color shifting coating visible through the window. The color shifting coating is disposed on the high index layer or on the opposite side of the substrate. Alternatively, a thin film color shifting structure conforming the diffractive grating is disposed between the grating and the windowed high index layer, also conforming to the shape of the diffractive grating.…
Vacuum Roll Coated Security Thin Film Interference Products With Overt And/Or Covert Patterned Layers
Granted: January 24, 2008
Application Number:
20080019003
A semitransparent OV device is formed using a partially transparent reflective layer having a thickness below the opaque point. For example, a partially transparent aluminum layer having a thickness of less than 20 nm, coated with a dielectric layer and an absorber layer, provides a color shifting optical stack that is partially transparent, so that an image or text printed on the substrate under the optical stack or on the opposite side of the substrate, is visible therethrough. In one…
Non-Toxic Flakes For Authentication Of Pharmaceutical Articles
Granted: January 24, 2008
Application Number:
20080019924
In one embodiment of the present invention, non-toxic inorganic flakes are used for identification and anticounterfeit protection of pharmaceutical articles, such as pills, tablets and capsules, having a core of a biologically active material and/or a biologically inert material. Non-toxic inorganic authentication flakes, either optically variable flakes or taggant flakes having one or more symbols and/or a selected shape are disposed on the surface or inside of the pharmaceutical…
Substrate Holder Assembly Device
Granted: January 10, 2008
Application Number:
20080006529
A device for mounting and removing a substrate from a baseplate, in particular a substrate holder assembly device, including automated features for latching and unlatching a substrate, for use in a coating mechanism, from a baseplate, which includes an adjustable snap ring holder.
Tuning A Trans-Impedance Amplifier
Granted: January 10, 2008
Application Number:
20080007343
A trans-impedance amplifier has a front-end circuit including a transistor and collector resistor for setting the open-loop gain of the feedback circuit. The collector resistor, when connected directly to the power supply, has a secondary function of defining the current through the gain transistor, affecting second-order characteristics. A current source is added between the collector resistor and power supply providing a means by which several outside factors can be mitigated, e.g the…
DC Offset Cancellation For A Trans-Impedance Amplifier
Granted: January 10, 2008
Application Number:
20080007344
The invention relates to a DC offset cancellation circuit for a trans-impedance amplifier, which is typically used for converting an input current from a photodiode into an output voltage. The DC offset cancellation circuit utilizes the monitor current from a photodiode monitoring device to cancel the DC offset from the photodiode input current, enabling the conventional feedback circuit in the trans-impedance amplifier to be fully integrated.
Polarization Recovery Plate
Granted: January 3, 2008
Application Number:
20080002257
The invention relates to a polarization recovery device which includes a reflective PBS plate having an embedded Mac-Neille type multilayer polarization splitting structure, a reflective back surface and a front surface shaped as a saw-tooth grating for providing normal incidence for beams entering and exiting the plate at the Brewster angle to the polarization splitting structure, when the reflective PBS plate is positioned at an oblique angle to input unpolarized light so as to output…
Stamping A Coating Of Cured Field Aligned Special Effect Flakes And Image Formed Thereby
Granted: January 3, 2008
Application Number:
20080003413
A device and method of forming a device in the form of an image particularly useful as a security device is disclosed wherein a magnetically aligned pigment coating upon a release layer on a first substrate on which it is coated is stamped, or example hot stamped onto another substrate or object. Multiple stamped aligned regions can be oriented differently on the other substrate or object in the form of a patch work or mosaic. For example a region of stamped aligned flakes having the…
Vacuum Roll Coated Security Thin Film Interference Products With Overt And/Or Covert Patterned Layers
Granted: December 27, 2007
Application Number:
20070296204
A security thread for embedding in or on a sheet such as a document, currency or packaging is disclosed, wherein the thread has a thin film interference structure deposited thereon. The article has plural Fabry-Perot filters and light transmissive windows between the filters, so that another optical structure, such as a reflective layer or color shifting foil, is visible though the windows and provides a visual reference to the image formed by the Fabry-Perot filters. Preferably, the…
Thin-Film Design For Positive And/Or Negative C-Plate
Granted: December 13, 2007
Application Number:
20070285601
Thin-film coatings, which for example have alternating layers of high and low refractive index materials, are shown to function as both positive and negative C-plates, in dependence upon the incident radiation. In particular, the shape of the retardance versus angle of incidence profile is found to be determined, at least in part, by the phase thickness of the thin film coating (i.e., the optical thickness in terms of the wavelength of the incident radiation, which may, for example, be…
Heating Magnetically Orientable Pigment In A Printing Process
Granted: November 22, 2007
Application Number:
20070268349
A printing apparatus and method for aligning special effect flakes is disclosed. The flakes field orientable and have an absorption band of wavelengths and a reflection band of wavelengths and are dispersed within in a viscous paste-like ink. The absorption band of the flakes is more absorbing than reflecting and the reflecting band is more reflecting than absorbing. A laser diode array is provided for generating beams of light positioned to irradiate the paste-like ink coating on the…
MEMS control system gain normalization
Granted: November 22, 2007
Application Number:
20070268553
A method and system for providing gain normalization in a MEMS control system and/or device includes moving a MEMS structure from a first position wherein light is redirected from a first input port to an output port to a second position wherein light is redirected from a second input port to the output port, dithering an orientation of the MEMS structure, monitoring an intensity of the dithered light and providing a feedback signal in dependence upon the monitored intensity, and using…
Substrate holder for optical coating machines
Granted: October 25, 2007
Application Number:
20070245955
A substrate holder for supporting substrates during coating processes includes an expandable outer frame, and a plurality of flexible arms defining a mesh or lattice like structure. Openings, formed by the interconnecting flexible arms, are defined by a plurality of resilient walls, which alternatively flex into and out of each opening providing equally spaced points of support for each substrate.
TUNABLE OPTICAL ADD/DROP MULTIPLEXER
Granted: October 4, 2007
Application Number:
20070230867
The tunable add/drop multiplexer including a tiltable mirror, a fixed thin film filter, and first and second retro-reflector elements for redirecting express channels back out an input/output port and for redirecting drop channels back out an add/drop port, respectively.
High Efficiency, Wavelength Stabilized Laser Diode Using AWG's And Architecture For Combining Same With Brightness Conservation
Granted: September 27, 2007
Application Number:
20070223552
The invention relates to high power semiconductor lasers based on a laser diode array waveguide grating (DAWG) in which the wavelength is stabilized using an array waveguide grating (AWG) in an external cavity configuration. Another aspect of the present invention relates to techniques for efficiently coupling optical gain element arrays to an AWG. Another feature provides for the efficient and brightness-conserving combination of multiple high power DAWG lasers into a single output.
Brand Protection Label With A Tamper Evident Abrasion-Removable Magnetic Ink
Granted: September 27, 2007
Application Number:
20070224398
The invention discloses security articles printed with an opaque or semi-transparent magnetic scratch-off removable composition printed on a substrate. The security article allows one to determine if the scratch-off media has been substantially removed prior to awarding a prize. Furthermore the invention discloses a security label having an image that is formed by applying a magnetically alignable pigment aligned by a magnetic field. A region of the magnetically formed image is more…
