Elizabeth Twyford Kunkee

6515784, Feb 4, 2003

Apr 24, 2001

09/840858

Bruce A. Ferguson - Redondo Beach CA
Richard A. Fields - Redondo Beach CA
Mark Kintis - Manhattan Beach CA
Elizabeth T. Kunkee - Manhattan Beach CA
Lawrence J. Lembo - Torrance CA
Stephen R. Perkins - Harbor City CA
David L. Rollins - Woodinville WA
Eric L. Upton - Bellevue WA

TRW Inc. - Redondo Beach CA

G02F 103

359244, 3593491, 250214 DC

An optical inverting system employs a first optical structure having an index of refraction that varies with the intensity of an incident beam and a second optical structure having a constant index of refraction, and forming an interface therebetween. An optical pulse stream is combined with a laser beam and the combined beam is applied to the first optical structure, impinging the interface at a predetermined angle of incidence. If the angle of incidence is less than a critical angle, the beam is refracted into the second optical structure. If the angle of incidence is greater than the critical angle, the beam is completely reflected at the interface. Thus the output of the second optical structure is an inversion, and the output of the first optical structure is a level shifted replica, of the optical digital pulse stream.

6529674, Mar 4, 2003

Nov 29, 2001

09/998545

Richard A. Fields - Redondo Beach CA
Bruce A. Ferguson - Redondo Beach CA
Mark Kintis - Manhattan Beach CA
Elizabeth T. Kunkee - Manhattan Beach CA
Lawrence J. Lembo - Torrance CA
Stephen R. Perkins - Harbor City CA
David L. Rollins - Hawthorne CA
Eric L. Upton - Redondo Beach CA

TRW Inc. - Redondo Beach CA

G02B 600

385140

An optical device for use with an optical input beam comprising an optical thresholding device positioned along an optical path defined by the propagation direction of the optical input beam. If the combined intensity of the optical input beam and a control beam exceeds a threshold level, the optical beam passes through the thresholding device. Preferably, the optical thresholding device is a saturable absorber. When the device is configured as an optical comparator, the intensity of the optical input beam exceeds the threshold level and the thresholding device saturates and turns transparent so that the control beam passes through the thresholding device as an optical indicator beam. When the device is configured as an optical signal attenuator and the intensity of the optical input signal is negligible compared to that of the control beam, the combined intensity of the beams does not saturate the thresholding device.

6608950, Aug 19, 2003

Feb 14, 2001

09/783692

Elizabeth T. Kunkee - Manhattan Beach CA
David V. Forbes - Oregon WI
James E. Leight - San Ramon CA
Mahmoud Fallahi - Tucson AZ

Northrop Grumman Corporation - Los Angeles CA

G02B 642

385 39, 385130

An integrated optoelectronic device ( ) includes a substrate ( ), at least one optoelectronic component ( ) provided on the substrate ( ), and a waveguide ( ) provided on the substrate ( ) and optically connected to the at least one optoelectronic component ( ). The waveguide ( ) is made of a sol-gel glass. A method for making the integrated optoelectronic device ( ) includes the steps of providing a substrate ( ), providing at least one optoelectronic component ( ) on the substrate ( ), and providing at least one sol-gel glass waveguide ( ) on the substrate ( ) and optically connected to the at least one optoelectronic component ( ).

6836351, Dec 28, 2004

Oct 30, 2002

10/283947

Peter Y. Livingston - Palos Verdes Estates CA
Steven R. Holm - Redondo Beach CA
Elizabeth T. Kunkee - Manhattan Beach CA

Northrop Grumman Corporation - Los Angeles CA

G02B 610

359279, 359248

A quantum-confined Stark effect quantum-dot optical modulator includes an interferometer having a beam splitter, first and second parallel optical branches fed by the beam splitter and a beam combiner fed by the first and second parallel optical branches and a laser for feeding a laser beam to the beam splitter. First and second optical phase shifters are provided in respective ones of the first and second parallel optical branches. Each optical phase shifter includes an intrinsic semiconductor crystalline planar layer and p-type and n-type planar semiconductor layers on opposite faces of the intrinsic semiconductor crystalline planar layer, the intrinsic layer lying in a plane parallel to a direction of propagation of the laser beam in the respective optical branch. The intrinsic layer has plural layers of planar arrays of quantum dots therein. A reverse bias D. C.

6933583, Aug 23, 2005

Apr 10, 2003

10/411873

Elizabeth T. Kunkee - Manhattan Beach CA, US
David V. Forbes - Oregon WI, US
David C. Scott - Lakewood CA, US
Timothy A. Vang - San Dimas CA, US
Wenshen Wang - Torrance CA, US

Northrop Grumman Corporation - Los Angeles CA

G02F001/35

257431, 257 14, 257 21, 385 2, 385 3

A coupled quantum well Mach-Zehnder modulator that employs a push-pull structure to reduce the modulation voltage. The Mach-Zehnder modulator includes a first arm having a first PIN semiconductor device and a second arm having a second PIN semiconductor device. The intrinsic layers of the PIN devices include a coupled quantum well structure to provide an opposite index of refraction change for different DC bias voltages. An RF signal used to modulate the light beam is applied to the two arms in phase and causes the index of refraction in the intrinsic layers of the two PIN devices to change in opposite directions so that a push-pull type drive is achieved without requiring 180 out-of-phase RF drive signal.

7068866, Jun 27, 2006

Nov 3, 2003

10/700245

Wenshen Wang - Torrence CA, US
David C Scott - Lakewood CA, US
Elizabeth T Kunkee - Manhattan Beach CA, US

Northrop Grumman Corporation - Los Angeles CA

G02F 1/295
G02B 6/34
G02B 6/10

385 10, 385 8, 385 37, 385129, 385130, 385131, 385132

A PIN electro-optical traveling wave modulator () including diffraction gratings () positioned at opposing sides of an optical waveguide () that act to change the propagation pattern of the waveguide (). The modulator () includes an N-type layer (), a P-type layer () and an intrinsic layer () acting as the waveguide (). A metal electrode () is in electrical contact with the N-type layer (), and a metal electrode () is in electrical contact with the P-type layer (). The electrodes () define an RF transmission line. An optical wave () propagates along the waveguide () and interacts with the gratings () which slow the optical wave () to match its speed to the speed of the RF wave in the transmission line. In one embodiment, the gratings () are 2-D gratings formed by vertical holes () in the waveguide ().

8169692, May 1, 2012

Aug 14, 2008

12/191909

Robert R. Rice - Simi Valley CA, US
Elizabeth Twyford Kunkee - Manhattan Beach CA, US
Peter Y. M. Livingston - Palos Verdes Estates CA, US

Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation - Falls Church VA

G02F 1/365
G02F 1/39

359330, 359332, 385132

A waveguide parametric device including a multi-mode waveguide having orientation layers formed in a propagation direction of a signal beam and a pump beam propagating down the waveguide. The orientation layers are oppositely oriented to provide non-linear coupling between the pump beam and the signal beam and have a periodicity that provides quasi-phase matching for a fundamental propagation mode, where the waveguide has a size to accommodate multi-mode wave propagation.

8432609, Apr 30, 2013

Jan 20, 2010

12/690539

Robert Rex Rice - Simi Valley CA, US
Derek Evan Schulte - Playa Del Rey CA, US
Elizabeth Twyford Kunkee - Manhattan Beach CA, US

Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation - Falls Church VA

H01S 5/00
H01S 3/05

359344, 359346, 359347

An edge photo-pumped semiconductor slab amplifier including an undoped semiconductor slab. A first gain structure is formed on an upper surface of the slab and a second gain structure is formed on a lower surface of the slab. The gain structures can be resonant periodic gain structures including a plurality of stacked quantum well layers. Confining layers are coupled to the gain structures to confine a signal beam within the semiconductor slab. Heat sinks are thermally coupled to the confining layers. Optical pump sources are provided along the side edges or coupled to the end edges of the slab so that pump light is introduced into the slab through the edges to provide gain for the quantum well layers.