US 12,140,824 B2
Light modulator, beam steering device including the light modulator, and electronic device including the beam steering device
Duhyun Lee, Yongin-si (KR); Changgyun Shin, Anyang-si (KR); Sunil Kim, Hwaseong-si (KR); Junghyun Park, Hwaseong-si (KR); and Byunggil Jeong, Anyang-si (KR)
Assigned to SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD., Suwon-si (KR)
Filed by SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD., Suwon-si (KR)
Filed on Jun. 16, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/842,327.
Application 17/842,327 is a continuation of application No. 16/805,070, filed on Feb. 28, 2020, granted, now 11,402,670.
Claims priority of application No. 10-2019-0116875 (KR), filed on Sep. 23, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0308369 A1, Sep. 29, 2022
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G02F 1/017 (2006.01); G02F 1/01 (2006.01); G02F 1/19 (2019.01); B82Y 20/00 (2011.01); G02F 1/015 (2006.01)
CPC G02F 1/017 (2013.01) [G02F 1/0102 (2013.01); G02F 1/19 (2013.01); B82Y 20/00 (2013.01); G02F 1/0151 (2021.01); G02F 1/01791 (2021.01); G02F 2201/346 (2013.01); G02F 2202/108 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A light modulator for amplifying an intensity of incident light and modulating a phase of the incident light, the light modulator comprising:
a first distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) layer having a first reflectivity and comprising at least two first refractive index layers that have different refractive indices from each other and are repeatedly alternately stacked;
a second DBR layer having a second reflectivity and comprising at least two second refractive index layers that have different refractive indices from each other and are repeatedly alternately stacked; and
an active layer disposed between the first DBR layer and the second DBR layer, and comprising a quantum well structure, the quantum well structure having a stack structure including a well layer and a first barrier layer that are alternately stacked, wherein at least one quantum dot is provided in the well layer,
“a refractive index and a gain of the active layer increase as an applied current to the light modulator increases to a predetermined current value, and the refractive index continues to increase as the applied current increases, even after the gain becomes saturated at the predetermined current value”.