US 11,754,799 B2
Photothermally actuated self-tuning optical light valve
Harris J Hall, Yellow Springs, OH (US); David Torres Reyes, Mason, OH (US); and Michael E McConney, Dayton, OH (US)
Assigned to United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH (US)
Filed by Government of the United States, as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH (US)
Filed on Jul. 20, 2020, as Appl. No. 16/933,078.
Prior Publication US 2022/0019048 A1, Jan. 20, 2022
Int. Cl. G02B 26/08 (2006.01); G02B 7/00 (2021.01); G02B 6/293 (2006.01); G02B 7/18 (2021.01)
CPC G02B 7/008 (2013.01) [G02B 6/29359 (2013.01); G02B 7/1815 (2013.01)] 21 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A tunable optical filter for a detector, the optical filter comprising:
a plate having a top side and a bottom side, the plate having material properties making it transparent to a range of optical frequencies;
a transparent metasurface proximate the top side of the plate, the transparent metasurface configured to have a transmissive pass band and a stop band; and
an undercarriage support structure proximate the bottom side of the plate, the undercarriage support responsive to photothermal heating;
the undercarriage support structure configured to deform from the photothermal heating caused by an undesired signal thereby shifting the stop band in frequency toward the undesired signal to block reception of the undesired signal by the detector.