Patents by Inventor Stephen W. Howell

Stephen W. Howell 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: 11482560
    Abstract: A monolithically integrated, tunable infrared pixel comprises a combined broadband detector and graphene-enabled tunable metasurface filter that operate as a single solid-state device with no moving parts. Functionally, tunability results from the plasmonic properties of graphene that are acutely dependent upon the carrier concentration within the infrared. Voltage induced changes in graphene's carrier concentration can be leveraged to change the metasurface filter's transmission thereby altering the “colors” of light reaching the broadband detector and hence its spectral responsivity. The invention enables spectrally agile infrared detection with independent pixel-to-pixel spectral tunability.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2022
    Assignee: National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC
    Inventors: Thomas Edwin Beechem, III, Michael Goldflam, Anna Tauke-Pedretti, Isaac Ruiz, David W. Peters, Stephen W. Howell
  • Patent number: 11287536
    Abstract: A radiation field is detected or imaged using one or more junction devices in which a two-dimensional conductor layer is capacitively coupled to a semiconductor absorber layer. In the junction devices, pixel-level amplification and read-out are accomplished through the photogating of the devices by absorption within the absorber layer while it is in a state of deep depletion. When the two-dimensional conductor is graphene, we refer to a device operating in that manner as a deeply depleted graphene-oxide-semiconductor (D2GOS) detector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Assignee: National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC
    Inventors: Stephen W. Howell, David W. Peters, Thomas Edwin Beechem, III, Isaac Ruiz, Richard Karl Harrison, Jeffrey B. Martin
  • Patent number: 10877194
    Abstract: An actively tunable optical filter can control the amplitude of reflected infrared light. The filter exploits the dependence of the excitation energy of plasmons in a continuous and unpatterned sheet of graphene, on the Fermi-level, which can be controlled by conventional electrostatic gating. An exemplary filter enables simultaneous modification of two distinct spectral bands whose positions are dictated by the device geometry and graphene plasmon dispersion. Within these bands, the reflected amplitude can be varied by over 15% and resonance positions can be shifted by over 90 cm?1. Electromagnetic simulations verify that tuning arises through coupling of incident light to graphene plasmons by a nanoantenna grating structure. Importantly, the tunable range is determined by a combination of graphene properties, device structure, and the surrounding dielectrics, which dictate the plasmon dispersion. Thus, the underlying design is applicable across a broad range of infrared frequencies.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 16, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2020
    Assignee: National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC
    Inventors: Thomas Edwin Beechem, III, Michael Goldflam, Stephen W. Howell, David W. Peters, Isaac Ruiz, Paul Davids
  • Publication number: 20200350356
    Abstract: A monolithically integrated, tunable infrared pixel comprises a combined broadband detector and graphene-enabled tunable metasurface filter that operate as a single solid-state device with no moving parts. Functionally, tunability results from the plasmonic properties of graphene that are acutely dependent upon the carrier concentration within the infrared. Voltage induced changes in graphene's carrier concentration can be leveraged to change the metasurface filter's transmission thereby altering the “colors” of light reaching the broadband detector and hence its spectral responsivity. The invention enables spectrally agile infrared detection with independent pixel-to-pixel spectral tunability.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 16, 2020
    Publication date: November 5, 2020
    Inventors: Thomas Edwin Beechem, III, Michael Goldflam, Anna Tauke-Pedretti, Isaac Ruiz, David W. Peters, Stephen W. Howell
  • Publication number: 20190219747
    Abstract: An actively tunable optical filter can control the amplitude of reflected infrared light. The filter exploits the dependence of the excitation energy of plasmons in a continuous and unpatterned sheet of graphene, on the Fermi-level,which can be controlled by conventional electrostatic gating. An exemplary filter enables simultaneous modification of two distinct spectral bands whose positions are dictated by the device geometry and graphene plasmon dispersion. Within these bands, the reflected amplitude can be varied by over 15% and resonance positions can be shifted by over 90 cm?1. Electromagnetic simulations verify that tuning arises through coupling of incident light to graphene plasmons by a nanoantenna grating structure. Importantly, the tunable range is determined by a combination of graphene properties, device structure, and the surrounding dielectrics, which dictate the plasmon dispersion. Thus, the underlying design is applicable across a broad range of infrared frequencies.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 16, 2018
    Publication date: July 18, 2019
    Inventors: Thomas Edwin Beechem, III, Michael Goldflam, Stephen W. Howell, David W. Peters, Isaac Ruiz, Paul Davids
  • Publication number: 20160172527
    Abstract: An interdigitated nanoelectrode grating functions both as an absorption-enhancing sub-wavelength antenna and to minimize the distance between electron-hole creation and current collection so as to enhance photodetection schemes based upon active layers comprising two-dimensional semiconducting materials.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 8, 2016
    Publication date: June 16, 2016
    Inventors: Thomas Edwin Beechem, III, Stephen W. Howell, David W. Peters, Paul Davids, Eric A. Shaner
  • Patent number: 9293627
    Abstract: The integration of bilayer graphene with an absorption enhancing sub-wavelength antenna provides an infrared photodetector capable of real-time spectral tuning without filters at nanosecond timescales.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 22, 2016
    Assignee: Sandia Corporation
    Inventors: Thomas Edwin Beechem, III, Stephen W. Howell, David W. Peters, Paul Davids, Taisuke Ohta
  • Patent number: 8302458
    Abstract: A portable analytical system for detecting organic chemicals in water comprising a miniature preconcentrator and a SAW detector, the latter being characterized by a nanoporous carbon coating that provides improved response compared to prior art polymer coatings, particularly when detecting low concentrations of trihalomethane chemicals, such as chloroform and bromoform.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2012
    Assignee: Parker-Hannifin Corporation
    Inventors: Kazi Zulfiqur Ali Hassan, William M. Cost, Curtis D. Mowry, Michael P. Siegal, Alex Robinson, Joshua J. Whiting, Stephen W. Howell
  • Patent number: 7550071
    Abstract: Methods are described for the electrochemical assembly of organic molecules on silicon, or other conducting or semiconducting substrates, using iodonium salt precursors. Iodonium molecules do not assemble on conducting surfaces without a negative bias. Accordingly, the iodonium salts are preferred for patterning applications that rely on direct writing with negative bias. The stability of the iodonium molecule to acidic conditions allows them to be used with standard silicon processing. As a directed assembly process, the use of iodonium salts provides for small features while maintaining the ability to work on a surface and create structures on a wafer level. Therefore, the process is amenable for mass production. Furthermore, the assembled monolayer (or multilayer) is chemically robust, allowing for subsequent chemical manipulations and the introduction of various molecular functionalities for various chemical and biological applications.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2005
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2009
    Assignee: Sandia Corporation
    Inventors: Shawn M. Dirk, Stephen W. Howell, David R. Wheeler
  • Publication number: 20080289397
    Abstract: A portable analytical system for detecting organic chemicals in water comprising a miniature preconcentrator and a SAW detector, the latter being characterized by a nanoporous carbon coating that provides improved response compared to prior art polymer coatings, particularly when detecting low concentrations of trihalomethane chemicals, such as chloroform and bromoform.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 21, 2008
    Publication date: November 27, 2008
    Inventors: Kazi Zulfiqur Ali Hassan, William M. Cost, Curtis D. Mowry, Michael P. Siegal, Alex Robinson, Joshua J. Whiting, Stephen W. Howell