[54] OPTOELECTRONIC ACTIVE CIRCUIT ELEMENT
[75] Inventor: Jerry J. Conley, Waseca, Minn.
[73] Assignee: E. F. Johnson Company, Waseca, Minn.
[ * ] Notice: The portion of the term of this patent subsequent to Jun. 23, 2009, has been disclaimed.
[21] Appl. No.: 40,897
[22] Filed: Jun. 28,1993
Related U.S. Application Data
[60] Division of Ser. No. 578,000, Sep. 4, 1990, Pat. No. 5,237, 233, which is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 318,743, Mar. 3, 1989, Pat. No. 5,008,579.
[51] Int. CI.6 G21H 1/12; H01L 31/06;
G03H 1/02
[52] U.S. CI 310/303; 359/39; 136/253
[58] Field of Search 310/301, 303;
359/39, 244, 299; 250/208.4, 208.6; 136/253,
254
[56] References Cited
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS 3,053,927 9/1962 Viszlocky 310/301
An optoelectronic active circuit element is created by the combination of a light source, an optical control filter and a photocell intimately coupled together. The light source has at least one light emitting surface emitting light energy of a specified frequency bandwidth and the photocell has at least one light absorbing surface for receiving the emitted light energy. The optical control filter includes a photorefractive material responsive to an input signal. The optical control filter may also include a polarization filter. The optoelectronic active circuit element modulates the amplitude, frequency or both of the emitted light energy in response to the input signal to produce a characteristic function of the output of the device that is similar to that of a traditional active circuit element, as well as many variations on that function.
