Patents by Inventor Shane COLBURN

Shane COLBURN 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).

  • Patent number: 11640040
    Abstract: Systems and methods for simultaneous focal length control and achromatic computational imaging with quartic metasurfaces are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, an imaging system includes: a first metalens having a plurality of first nanoposts carried by a first substrate; a second metalens having a plurality of second nanoposts carried by a second substrate; and a source of light configured to emit light toward the first metalens and the second metalens. The first metalens is transversely offset with respect to the second metalens.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2023
    Assignee: University of Washington
    Inventors: Shane Colburn, Arka Majumdar
  • Patent number: 11550084
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are metasurfaces formed on a substrate from a plurality of posts. The metasurfaces are configured to be optically active at one or more wavelengths and in certain embodiments are configured to form lenses having unexpectedly strong focusing power. In particular, the metasurfaces are formed from “low-contrast” materials, including CMOS-compatible materials such as silicon dioxide or silicon nitride. Accordingly, the disclosed metasurfaces are generally CMOS compatible and therefore embody a new paradigm in metasurface design and manufacturing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2023
    Assignee: University of Washington
    Inventors: Alan Zhan, Shane Colburn, Arka Majumdar
  • Patent number: 11137655
    Abstract: A tunable liquid crystal (LC) device includes an LC layer between a pair of reflectors forming an optical cavity. The reflectors include conductive layers for applying an electrical signal to the LC layer. One of the conductive layers may include an array of conductive pixels for spatially selective control of the effective refractive index of the LC layer. The phase delay introduced by the LC layer may be greatly increased or magnified by placing the LC layer into the optical cavity. This enables a substantial reduction of the LC layer thickness, which in its turn enables very tight pitches of the LC pixels, with a reduced inter-pixel crosstalk caused by fringing electric fields, as well as faster switching times. A tight-pitch, fast LC device may be used as a configurable hologram or a spatial light modulator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2021
    Assignee: FACEBOOK TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: Maxwell Parsons, Shane Colburn, Yingfei Jiang, Andrew Maimone, Erik Shipton, Guohua Wei, Oleg Yaroshchuk
  • Publication number: 20210255490
    Abstract: A tunable liquid crystal (LC) device includes an LC layer between a pair of reflectors forming an optical cavity. The reflectors include conductive layers for applying an electrical signal to the LC layer. One of the conductive layers may include an array of conductive pixels for spatially selective control of the effective refractive index of the LC layer. The phase delay introduced by the LC layer may be greatly increased or magnified by placing the LC layer into the optical cavity. This enables a substantial reduction of the LC layer thickness, which in its turn enables very tight pitches of the LC pixels, with a reduced inter-pixel crosstalk caused by fringing electric fields, as well as faster switching times. A tight-pitch, fast LC device may be used as a configurable hologram or a spatial light modulator.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 3, 2020
    Publication date: August 19, 2021
    Inventors: Maxwell Parsons, Shane Colburn, Yingfei Jiang, Andrew Maimone, Erik Shipton, Guohua Wei, Oleg Yaroshchuk
  • Publication number: 20210231909
    Abstract: Systems and methods for simultaneous focal length control and achromatic computational imaging with quartic metasurfaces are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, an imaging system includes: a first metalens having a plurality of first nanoposts carried by a first substrate; a second metalens having a plurality of second nanoposts carried by a second substrate; and a source of light configured to emit light toward the first metalens and the second metalens. The first metalens is transversely offset with respect to the second metalens.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 25, 2021
    Publication date: July 29, 2021
    Applicant: University of Washington
    Inventors: Shane Colburn, Arka Majumdar
  • Publication number: 20210037219
    Abstract: Metasurfaces and systems including metasurfaces for imaging and methods of imaging are described. Such metasurfaces may be formed on a substrate from a plurality of posts. The metasurfaces are configured to be optically active over a wavelength range and in certain embodiments are configured to form lenses. In particular, the metasufaces described herein may be configured to focus light passed through the metasurface in an extended depth of focus. Accordingly, the disclosed metasurfaces are generally suitable for generating color without or with minimal chromatic aberrations, for example, in conjunction with computational reconstruction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 29, 2019
    Publication date: February 4, 2021
    Applicant: University of Washington
    Inventors: Shane Colburn, Alan Zhan, Arka Majumdar
  • Publication number: 20200241182
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are metasurfaces formed on a substrate from a plurality of posts. The metasurfaces are configured to be optically active at one or more wavelengths and in certain embodiments are configured to form lenses having unexpectedly strong focusing power. In particular, the metasurfaces are formed from “low-contrast” materials, including CMOS-compatible materials such as silicon dioxide or silicon nitride. Accordingly, the disclosed metasurfaces are generally CMOS compatible and therefore embody a new paradigm in metasurface design and manufacturing.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 16, 2020
    Publication date: July 30, 2020
    Applicant: University of Washington
    Inventors: Alan Zhan, Shane Colburn, Arka Majumdar
  • Patent number: 10670783
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are metasurfaces formed on a substrate from a plurality of posts. The metasurfaces are configured to be optically active at one or more wavelengths and in certain embodiments are configured to form lenses having unexpectedly strong focusing power. In particular, the metasurfaces are formed from “low-contrast” materials, including CMOS-compatible materials such as silicon dioxide or silicon nitride. Accordingly, the disclosed metasurfaces are generally CMOS compatible and therefore embody a new paradigm in metasurface design and manufacturing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2020
    Assignee: University of Washington
    Inventors: Alan Zhan, Shane Colburn, Arka Majumdar
  • Publication number: 20200057182
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are metasurfaces formed on a substrate from a plurality of posts. The metasurfaces are configured to be optically active at one or more wavelengths and in certain embodiments are configured to form lenses having unexpectedly strong focusing power. In particular, the metasurfaces are formed from “low-contrast” materials, including CMOS-compatible materials such as silicon dioxide or silicon nitride. Accordingly, the disclosed metasurfaces are generally CMOS compatible and therefore embody a new paradigm in metasurface design and manufacturing.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 26, 2019
    Publication date: February 20, 2020
    Applicant: University of Washington
    Inventors: Alan Zhan, Shane Colburn, Arka Majumdar
  • Patent number: 10365416
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are metasurfaces formed on a substrate from a plurality of posts. The metasurfaces are configured to be optically active at one or more wavelengths and in certain embodiments are configured to form lenses having unexpectedly strong focusing power. In particular, the metasurfaces are formed from “low-contrast” materials, including CMOS-compatible materials such as silicon dioxide or silicon nitride. Accordingly, the disclosed metasurfaces are generally CMOS compatible and therefore embody a new paradigm in metasurface design and manufacturing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 30, 2019
    Assignee: University of Washington
    Inventors: Alan Zhan, Shane Colburn, Arka Majumdar
  • Publication number: 20180246262
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are metasurfaces formed on a substrate from a plurality of posts. The metasurfaces are configured to be optically active at one or more wavelengths and in certain embodiments are configured to form lenses having unexpectedly strong focusing power. In particular, the metasurfaces are formed from “low-contrast” materials, including CMOS-compatible materials such as silicon dioxide or silicon nitride. Accordingly, the disclosed metasurfaces are generally CMOS compatible and therefor embody a new paradigm in metasurface design and manufacturing.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 8, 2016
    Publication date: August 30, 2018
    Applicant: University of Washington
    Inventors: Alan ZHAN, Shane COLBURN, Arka MAJUMDAR