Importance

Loading Importance Indicators...

Abstract

A thin film light modulator (50) for use in an electro-optic line printer (11). A light valve utilizes a thin electro-optic film (54) on a substrate (52) with the index of refraction of the film being higher than the substrate so that the light can be guided in it. A laser beam (48) is caused to be guided in the film, the beam expanding sideways so that a sheet of collimated light is provided. This light is guided beneath an array of electrodes (58), consisting of an extended set of individually addressed metal fingers (60a, 60n)-(62a, 62n). The light diffracted by the electrode set is reimaged onto the recording medium (14), with the zero order diffracted light blocked out, so that each electrode pair acts as a light modulator for one picture element on the output. Alternatively, the zero order is reimaged and the higher order diffraction components are blocked out. By applying each bit of a serial stream of data to the corresponding electrode, a line recording is achieved.

Loading the Abstract Image...

First Claim