Patents by Inventor Gleb M. Akselrod
Gleb M. Akselrod has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
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Patent number: 11037973Abstract: Systems and methods are described herein for an optical beam-steering device that includes an optical transmitter and/or receiver to transmit and/or receive optical radiation from an optically reflective surface. An array of adjustable dielectric resonator elements is arranged on the surface with inter-element spacings less than an optical operating wavelength. A controller applies a pattern of voltage differentials to the adjustable dielectric resonator elements. The pattern of voltage differentials corresponds to a sub-wavelength reflection phase pattern for reflecting the optical electromagnetic radiation. One embodiment of a dielectric resonator element includes first and second dielectric members extending from the surface. The dielectric resonator elements are spaced from one another to form a gap or channel therebetween. A voltage-controlled adjustable refractive index material is disposed within the gap.Type: GrantFiled: February 20, 2018Date of Patent: June 15, 2021Assignee: Elwha LLCInventor: Gleb M Akselrod
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Publication number: 20210143555Abstract: A transceiver system may include first and second metasurfaces, such as radio frequency (RF) metasurfaces or optically reflective tunable liquid crystal metasurfaces (LCMs). In one specific example, a transmit LCM may be tuned by a controller to steerably reflect incident optical radiation at a target transmit steering angle. A laser or other optical radiation source may transmit optical radiation to the transmit LCM at a first angle of incidence. The controller may tune the second tunable LCM to steerably receive optical radiation at a target receive steering angle corresponding to the target transmit steering angle. The received optical radiation may be reflected at a second angle of incidence to a detector.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 16, 2020Publication date: May 13, 2021Inventors: Gleb M. Akselrod, Prasad Padmanabha Iyer
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Publication number: 20210141060Abstract: An example optical transceiver system, such as a solid-state light detection and ranging (lidar) system, includes a tunable, optically reflective metasurface to selectively reflect incident optical radiation as transmit scan lines at transmit steering angles between a first steering angle and a second steering angle. In some embodiments, a feedback element, such as a volume Bragg grating element, may lock a laser to narrow the band of optical radiation. A receiver may include a tunable, optically reflective metasurface for receiver line-scanning or a two-dimensional array of detector elements forming a set of discrete receive scan lines. In embodiments incorporating a two-dimensional array of detector elements, receiver optics may direct optical radiation incident at each of a plurality of discrete receive steering angles to a unique subset of the discrete receive scan lines of detector elements.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 13, 2020Publication date: May 13, 2021Inventors: Gleb M. Akselrod, Prasad Padmanabha Iyer, Ross D. Uthoff
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Patent number: 11005186Abstract: A tunable, optical metasurface can include an optically reflective surface to reflect optical radiation, such as infrared laser light. An array of optical resonant antennas may, for example, extend from or otherwise be positioned on the reflective surface with sub-wavelength spacings of, for example, less than one-half of a wavelength. Voltage-controlled liquid crystal may be positioned in the optical field region of each of the optical resonant antennas. A controller may apply a voltage differential bias pattern to the liquid crystal of optical resonant antennas, that may be arranged in tiled, interleaved, or randomly arranged subsets of optical resonant antennas to attain one-dimensional beam steering, two-dimensional beam steering, and/or spatial beam shaping.Type: GrantFiled: March 18, 2019Date of Patent: May 11, 2021Assignee: Lumotive, LLCInventors: Gleb M. Akselrod, Yuanmu Yang, Patrick Bowen
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Patent number: 10968522Abstract: The disclosure provides a method for fabricating a metallic optical metasurface having an array of hologram elements. The method includes forming a first copper layer protected with a conducting or dielectric barrier layer over a backplane structure by a damascene process. The first copper layer comprises a plurality of nano-gaps vertically extending from the backplane structure. The plurality of nano-gaps is filled with a dielectric material. The method also includes removing the dielectric material and a portion of the conducting or dielectric barrier layer to expose the portions in the nano-gaps of the first copper layer. The method may further include depositing a dielectric coating layer over the top portion and exposed side portions of the first copper layer to form a protected first copper layer, and filling the gaps with an electrically-tunable dielectric material that has an electrically-tunable refractive index.Type: GrantFiled: April 2, 2018Date of Patent: April 6, 2021Assignee: Elwha LLCInventors: Gleb M. Akselrod, Erik Edward Josberger, Mark C. Weidman
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Patent number: 10915002Abstract: Systems and methods are described herein for an optical beam-steering device that includes an optical transmitter and/or receiver to transmit and/or receive optical radiation from an optically reflective surface. An array of adjustable dielectric resonator elements is arranged on the surface with inter-element spacings less than an optical operating wavelength. A controller applies a pattern of voltage differentials to the adjustable dielectric resonator elements. The pattern of voltage differentials corresponds to a sub-wavelength reflection phase pattern for reflecting the optical electromagnetic radiation. One embodiment of a dielectric resonator element includes first and second dielectric members extending from the surface. The dielectric resonator elements are spaced from one another to form a gap or channel therebetween. A voltage-controlled adjustable refractive index material is disposed within the gap.Type: GrantFiled: February 20, 2018Date of Patent: February 9, 2021Assignee: Elwha LLCInventor: Gleb M Akselrod
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Patent number: 10886317Abstract: The method is provided for fabricating an optical metasurface. The method may include depositing a conductive layer over a holographic region of a wafer and depositing a dielectric layer over the conducting layer. The method may also include patterning a hard mask on the dielectric layer. The method may further include etching the dielectric layer to form a plurality of dielectric pillars with a plurality of nano-scale gaps between the pillars.Type: GrantFiled: April 6, 2020Date of Patent: January 5, 2021Assignee: Elwha LLCInventors: Gleb M. Akselrod, Erik E. Josberger, Mark C. Weidman
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Publication number: 20200371210Abstract: Optical receivers and transmitters can be used as stand-alone systems or combined together as a transceiver. Each of the receiver and transmitter may include an optically reflective steerable device, such as an optically reflective liquid crystal metasurface (LCM), to steer optical radiation to a target location. A transmit waveguide conveys optical radiation from a light source to the transmitter steerable device. A receive waveguide conveys received optical radiation reflected by the receiver optically steerable device to a sensor. In some embodiments, the transmit waveguide and the receive waveguide may be portions of the same planar waveguide. The receiver includes a holographic lens between the receiver LCM and the receive waveguide to pass through optical radiation received at a first range of incident angles and modify (e.g., collimate and/or spectrally filter) optical radiation reflected by the receiver LCM for conveyance by the receive waveguide to the sensor.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 25, 2020Publication date: November 26, 2020Inventor: Gleb M. Akselrod
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Patent number: 10790324Abstract: A 2D hologram system with a matrix addressing scheme is provided. The system may include a 2D array of sub-wavelength hologram elements integrated with a refractive index tunable core material on a wafer substrate. The system may also include a matrix addressing scheme coupled to the 2D array of sub-wavelength hologram elements and configured to independently control each of the sub-wavelength hologram elements by applying a voltage.Type: GrantFiled: November 5, 2019Date of Patent: September 29, 2020Assignee: Elwha LLCInventors: Gleb M. Akselrod, Erik E. Josberger, Mark C. Weidman
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Publication number: 20200303443Abstract: The method is provided for fabricating an optical metasurface. The method may include depositing a conductive layer over a holographic region of a wafer and depositing a dielectric layer over the conducting layer. The method may also include patterning a hard mask on the dielectric layer. The method may further include etching the dielectric layer to form a plurality of dielectric pillars with a plurality of nano-scale gaps between the pillars.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 6, 2020Publication date: September 24, 2020Inventors: Gleb M. Akselrod, Erik E. Josberger, Mark C. Weidman
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Publication number: 20200303827Abstract: A tunable, optical metasurface can include an optically reflective surface to reflect optical radiation, such as infrared laser light. An array of optical resonant antennas may, for example, extend from or otherwise be positioned on the reflective surface with sub-wavelength spacings of, for example, less than one-half of a wavelength. Voltage-controlled liquid crystal may be positioned in the optical field region of each of the optical resonant antennas. A controller may apply a voltage differential bias pattern to the liquid crystal of optical resonant antennas, that may be arranged in tiled, interleaved, or randomly arranged subsets of optical resonant antennas to attain one-dimensional beam steering, two-dimensional beam steering, and/or spatial beam shaping.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 25, 2020Publication date: September 24, 2020Inventors: Gleb M. Akselrod, Yuanmu Yang, Patrick Bowen
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Publication number: 20200303826Abstract: A tunable, optical metasurface can include an optically reflective surface to reflect optical radiation, such as infrared laser light. An array of optical resonant antennas may, for example, extend from or otherwise be positioned on the reflective surface with sub-wavelength spacings of, for example, less than one-half of a wavelength. Voltage-controlled liquid crystal may be positioned in the optical field region of each of the optical resonant antennas. A controller may apply a voltage differential bias pattern to the liquid crystal of optical resonant antennas, that may be arranged in tiled, interleaved, or randomly arranged subsets of optical resonant antennas to attain one-dimensional beam steering, two-dimensional beam steering, and/or spatial beam shaping.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 18, 2019Publication date: September 24, 2020Inventors: Gleb M. Akselrod, Yuanmu Yang, Patrick Bowen
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Patent number: 10763290Abstract: Embodiments include a LIDAR scanning system. A laser is configured to emit pulses of light. A transmit reconfigurable-metasurface is configured to reflect an incident pulse of light as an illumination beam pointing at a field of view. This pointing is responsive to a first holographic beam steering pattern implemented in the transmit reconfigurable-metasurface. A receive reconfigurable-metasurface is configured to reflect a return of the illumination beam to an optical detector. This pointing is responsive to a second holographic beam steering pattern implemented in the receiving reconfigurable-metasurface. An optical detector includes an array of detector pixels. Each detector pixel includes (i) a photodetector configured to detect light in the return of the illumination beam and (ii) a timing circuit configured to determine a time of flight of the detected light. The optical detector is also configured to output a detection signal indicative of the detected light and the time of flight.Type: GrantFiled: October 23, 2017Date of Patent: September 1, 2020Assignee: Elwha LLCInventors: Gleb M. Akselrod, Erik E. Josberger, Mark C. Weidman
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Publication number: 20200249396Abstract: Systems and methods are described herein for an optical beam-steering device that includes an optical transmitter and/or receiver to transmit and/or receive optical radiation from an optically reflective surface. An array of adjustable plasmonic resonant waveguides is arranged on the surface with inter-element spacings less than an optical operating wavelength. A controller applies a pattern of voltage differentials to the adjustable plasmonic resonant waveguides. The pattern of voltage differentials corresponds to a sub-wavelength reflection phase pattern for reflecting the optical electromagnetic radiation. One embodiment of an adjustable plasmonic resonant waveguide includes first and second metal rails extending from the surface. The metal rails are spaced from one another to form a channel therebetween. An electrically-adjustable dielectric is disposed within the channel.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 20, 2020Publication date: August 6, 2020Inventors: Gleb M. Akselrod, Yuanmu Yang, Patrick Bowen
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Patent number: 10727601Abstract: A transceiver system may include first and second metasurfaces, such as radio frequency (RF) metasurfaces or optically reflective tunable liquid crystal metasurfaces (LCMs). In one specific example, a transmit LCM may be tuned by a controller to steerably reflect incident optical radiation at a target transmit steering angle. A laser or other optical radiation source may transmit optical radiation to the transmit LCM at a first angle of incidence. The controller may tune the second tunable LCM to steerably receive optical radiation at a target receive steering angle corresponding to the target transmit steering angle. The received optical radiation may be reflected at a second angle of incidence to a detector.Type: GrantFiled: March 25, 2020Date of Patent: July 28, 2020Assignee: Lumotive, LLCInventors: Gleb M. Akselrod, Prasad Padmanabha Iyer
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Publication number: 20200203413Abstract: A 2D hologram system with a matrix addressing scheme is provided. The system may include a 2D array of sub-wavelength hologram elements integrated with a refractive index tunable core material on a wafer substrate. The system may also include a matrix addressing scheme coupled to the 2D array of sub-wavelength hologram elements and configured to independently control each of the sub-wavelength hologram elements by applying a voltage.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 5, 2019Publication date: June 25, 2020Inventors: Gleb M. Akselrod, Erik E. Josberger, Mark C. Weidman
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Patent number: 10665953Abstract: A tunable, optical metasurface can include an optically reflective surface to reflect optical radiation, such as infrared laser light. An array of optical resonant antennas may, for example, extend from or otherwise be positioned on the reflective surface with sub-wavelength spacings of, for example, less than one-half of a wavelength. Voltage-controlled liquid crystal may be positioned in the optical field region of each of the optical resonant antennas. A controller may apply a voltage differential bias pattern to the liquid crystal of optical resonant antennas, that may be arranged in tiled, interleaved, or randomly arranged subsets of optical resonant antennas to attain one-dimensional beam steering, two-dimensional beam steering, and/or spatial beam shaping.Type: GrantFiled: July 8, 2019Date of Patent: May 26, 2020Assignee: Lumotive LLCInventors: Gleb M. Akselrod, Yuanmu Yang, Patrick Bowen
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Patent number: 10663631Abstract: Nanopatch antennas and related methods for enhancing and tailoring are disclosed. According to an aspect, an apparatus includes a conductive material defining a substantially planar surface. The apparatus also includes a conductive nanostructure defining a substantially planar surface. The conductive material and the conductive nanostructure are positioned such that the planar surface of the conductive material faces the planar surface of the conductive nanostructure, such that the planar surfaces are substantially parallel, and such that the planar surfaces are spaced by a selected distance. The apparatus also includes an optically-active material positioned between the planar surfaces.Type: GrantFiled: October 10, 2015Date of Patent: May 26, 2020Assignee: Duke UniversityInventors: Maiken H. Mikkelsen, David R. Smith, Gleb M. Akselrod
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Patent number: 10629338Abstract: Described embodiments include a system, method, and apparatus. The apparatus includes a magnetic substrate at least partially covered by a first negative-permittivity layer comprising a first plasmonic outer surface. The apparatus includes a plasmonic nanoparticle having a magnetic element at least partially covered by a second negative-permittivity layer comprising a second plasmonic outer surface. The apparatus includes a dielectric-filled gap between the first plasmonic outer surface and the second outer surface. The first plasmonic outer surface, the dielectric-filled gap, and the second plasmonic outer surface are configured to support one or more mutually coupled plasmonic excitations.Type: GrantFiled: March 1, 2017Date of Patent: April 21, 2020Assignee: Elwha LLCInventors: Gleb M. Akselrod, Roderick A. Hyde, Muriel Y. Ishikawa, Jordin T. Kare, Maiken H. Mikkelsen, Tony S. Pan, David R. Smith, Clarence T. Tegreene, Yaroslav A. Urzhumov, Charles Whitmer, Lowell L. Wood, Jr., Victoria Y. H. Wood
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Patent number: 10627571Abstract: Systems and methods are described herein for an optical beam-steering device that includes an optical transmitter and/or receiver to transmit and/or receive optical radiation from an optically reflective surface. An array of adjustable plasmonic resonant waveguides is arranged on the surface with inter-element spacings less than an optical operating wavelength. A controller applies a pattern of voltage differentials to the adjustable plasmonic resonant waveguides. The pattern of voltage differentials corresponds to a sub-wavelength reflection phase pattern for reflecting the optical electromagnetic radiation. One embodiment of an adjustable plasmonic resonant waveguide includes first and second metal rails extending from the surface. The metal rails are spaced from one another to form channel therebetween. An electrically-adjustable dielectric is disposed within the channel.Type: GrantFiled: October 21, 2019Date of Patent: April 21, 2020Assignee: Elwha, LLCInventors: Gleb M. Akselrod, Yuanmu Yang, Patrick Bowen