DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 3-10, and 12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Mitra, S., Jiménez-Galán, Á., Neuhaus, M., Silva, R. E., Pervak, V., Kling, M. F., & Biswas, S. (2023). Lightwave-controlled band engineering in quantum materials. arXiv preprint arXiv:2303.13044 (of record, see IDS dated 03/08/2024, noted to be available as early as 03/23/2023, hereinafter, “Mitra”).
The applied reference has a common joint inventor with the instant application. Based upon the earlier effectively filed date of the reference, it constitutes prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2). This rejection under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) might be overcome by: (1) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(a) that the subject matter disclosed in the reference was obtained directly or indirectly from the inventor or a joint inventor of this application and is thus not prior art in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(A); (2) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(b) of a prior public disclosure under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(B) if the same invention is not being claimed; or (3) a statement pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) establishing that, not later than the effective filing date of the claimed invention, the subject matter disclosed in the reference and the claimed invention were either owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person or subject to a joint research agreement.
Regarding independent claim 1, Mitra discloses a method for encoding information by valley polarization in a material using an electromagnetic field (Mitra teaches twisting a light wave relative to the lattice orientation of a material enables switching between band configurations in the material, page 1 abstract), the method comprising:
providing a material (Mitra demonstrates sub-cycle-controlled time-reversal symmetry breaking and band structure engineering in an insulating hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) monolayer, page 1), and
applying the electromagnetic field onto the material (Mitra teaches composite material is the laser-dressed monolayer, and different properties are induced and manipulated on sub-cycle timescale by twisting the light field with respect to the material structure, page 2, first full paragraph, and further teaches that a polarization-tailored trefoil waveform induces complex next-nearest neighbour hoppings in the hBN insulating monolayer, page 2, third full paragraph),
wherein the electromagnetic field possesses an m-fold symmetry and the real-space lattice structure or real-space sub-lattice structure of the material possesses an n-fold symmetry (Mitra teaches the combination of two counter-rotating circularly-polarized fields of frequencies w and 2w to produce a strong tailored light wave whose projection on the hBN crystal plane resembles a trefoil structure, and as shown in Fig. 1C, the electromagnetic field symmetry matches the triangular lattice of hBN, page 2, fourth paragraph, and),
wherein the symmetry of the electromagnetic field corresponds to the symmetry of the real-space lattice structure or real-space sub-lattice structure of the material in such a way that n is an integer multiple of m ( Mitra teaches that due to the periodicity of both the trefoil waveform electromagnetic field and the lattice of the hBN material, the same dynamics of the spatial waveform of the vector potential and the band structure topology are repeated every 120°, therefore as best understood by the Examiner, m and n are equal, and the integer multiple of m and n is 1), and
wherein the electromagnetic field induces and/or manipulates valley polarization in the bandstructure of the material (Mitra teaches that once the band gap at one of the valleys of the hBN material is lowered, the same strong trefoil electromagnetic field induces valley polarization through tunnel ionization, page 3, first full paragraph).
Regarding dependent claim 3, Mitra discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the electromagnetic field is off-resonant with an interband transition of the material (Mitra teaches the method disclosed does not rely on resonant processes for valley polarization and that the effects are purely strong-field and symmetry-driven, page 2 fourth paragraph).
Regarding dependent claim 4, Mitra discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the electromagnetic field is a superposition of a first component and one or more further components (Mitra teaches the pump trefoil waveform was prepared by interferometrically combining two counter-rotating circularly polarized lightwaves of about 30 femtosecond (fs) long and with an amplitude ratio of 2:1, see Fig. 3A, and further teaches the broadband spectra of these components were centered around 2 µm and 1 µm, respectively, page 3 second paragraph), wherein the first component has a different polarization from the other components, and/or wherein the first component has a different wavelength from the other components (Mitra teaches the broadband spectra of these components were centered around 2 µm and 1 µm, respectively, page 3 second paragraph).
Regarding dependent claim 5, Mitra discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the electromagnetic field is a superposition of a first component and one or more further components (Mitra teaches the pump trefoil waveform was prepared by interferometrically combining two counter-rotating circularly polarized lightwaves of about 30 femtosecond (fs) long and with an amplitude ratio of 2:1, see Fig. 3A, and further teaches the broadband spectra of these components were centered around 2 µm and 1 µm, respectively, page 3 second paragraph), wherein the first component and the other components have identical polarizations, and/or wherein the first component has a different wavelength from the other components (Mitra teaches the broadband spectra of these components were centered around 2 µm and 1 µm, respectively, page 3 second paragraph).
Regarding dependent claim 6, Mitra discloses the method according to claim 1, further comprising validating valley polarization in the material (Mitra teaches the modulation and switch of the valley polarization as a function of waveform rotation angle is a tell-tale sign of the modification of the band structure topology, page 3 first full paragraph), the validating step comprising: measuring a part of the electromagnetic field transmitted through the material (Fig. 3 depicts outgoing light was collected with a transmission objective, page 7), examining a frequency spectrum of the transmitted part of the electromagnetic field (Mitra teaches spectrally filtered and specially separated s and p polarized components are captured with photodiodes which are connected to two-channel lock-in amplifier for data acquisition, see page 7, Fig. 3), and attributing one or more higher harmonic components in the frequency spectrum to temporal and/or spatial inversion symmetry breaking (helicity of the outgoing third harmonic, 3ω in present case, elliptical radiation maps the valley population, page 3, last paragraph, and Fig. 1, onsite energy difference of the atoms in the inversion symmetry broken system is indicated, page 5).
Regarding dependent claim 7, Mitra discloses the method according to claim 6, further comprising:
extracting an amplitude of the one or more higher harmonic components (Mitra teaches the left and right circular components of the 3w signal have largely asymmetric amplitudes, page 4 fourth paragraph, refer also to Fig. 2F-I and Fig. 2J-M), and
attributing the amplitude of the one or more higher harmonic components to an induced valley polarization in the bandstructure of the material (Mitra discloses the amplitude asymmetry reflects the fact that the population at one of the valleys oscillates much less than in the other, page 4 fourth paragraph).
Regarding dependent claim 8, Mitra discloses the method according to claim 6, further comprising:
rotating an angle of the electromagnetic field (Mitra teaches that during the experiment the pump trefoil waveform was rotated for a fixed probe pulse delay, page 4, top paragraph) with respect to a symmetry axis of the real-space lattice structure of the material (Mitra teaches a sub-cycle-controlled rotation of the trefoil waveform relative to the hBN lattice orientation leads to a controlled band structure modification, page 5, Fig. 1), and
examining the amplitude of the higher harmonic components depending on the angle as an indication of the breaking of spatial inversion symmetry (Fig. 2E shows band gap of the laser-dressed band structure at K and K' as a function of the orientation of the bicircular field, page 6, and Fig. 1, onsite energy difference of the atoms in the inversion symmetry broken system is indicated, page 5).
Regarding dependent claim 9, Mitra discloses the method according to claim 1, further comprising
probing generated valley polarization in the material (Fig. 3 depicts the optical methodology to probe band engineering with application to valleytronics, page 7), wherein the probing includes the following steps:
applying a probe pulse onto the material (Fig. 3, Mitra teaches the band structure and related electron dynamics were probed by optical harmonic polarimetry driven by a time delayed linearly polarized 2 µm wavelength pulse, page 7), wherein the probe pulse is distinct in wavelength and/or polarization from the first component and the other components of the electromagnetic field (Mitra teaches that to read-out the valley polarization, a small portion of the fundamental 2 µm beam was separated out with linear polarization and pulse duration of 30 fs, and delayed it by about 100 fs with respect to the trefoil pump pulse, page 3, last paragraph); and
detecting a component of the probe pulse emitted from the material (the helicity of the outgoing harmonic populations third harmonic 3w elliptical radiation maps the valley populations, page 3 last paragraph), wherein the probe pulse is linearly polarized (Fig. 3, the band structure were probed by a linearly polarized pulse, page 7), and/or wherein the probe pulse is not collinear with the electromagnetic field.
Regarding dependent claim 10, Mitra discloses the method according to claim 9, wherein a rotation angle between the electromagnetic field and the real-space lattice structure of the material is varied (Mitra teaches the modulation and switch of the valley polarization as a function of waveform rotation angle is a tell-tale sign of the modification of the band structure topology, page 3, first full paragraph), and wherein the variation of the rotation angle is associated with a variation of an intensity of the emitted component of the probe pulse (Mitra teaches the helicity of the outgoing third harmonic 3w elliptical radiation maps the valley populations, page, last paragraph, therefore, as best understood by the Examiner, the valley populations were associated with the variations of the emitted component of the probe pulse as the rotation angle was varied).
Regarding dependent claim 12, Mitra discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the material has a hexagonal lattice structure (Mitra discloses the use of hexagonal boron nitride, page 1), and wherein the electromagnetic field has a three-fold symmetry (Mitra teaches the application of a polarization-tailored trefoil waveform electromagnetic field, page 2, third paragraph, where a trefoil shape has three-fold symmetry).
Regarding independent claim 13, Mitra discloses a device for generating an electromagnetic field suitable for inducing and/or manipulating valley polarization in a multilayer material (Mitra teaches twisting a light wave relative to the lattice orientation of a material enables switching between band configurations in the material, page 1 abstract), the device comprising:
a pulsed laser source configured to emit one or more light pulses (Mitra teaches the use of the matching between the symmetry of the crystal lattice and the structured spatial waveform of the light field provides a new degree of freedom to control band structure engineering in hexagonal boron nitride with sub-laser-cycle precision, see Fig. 1A, page 2 first paragraph, and Mitra further teaches that changing the sub-cycle phase delay between the w and 2w pulses rotates the vector potential, page 2, fourth paragraph, therefore Mitra discloses the equivalent of a pulsed laser source configured to emit one or more light pulses), and
one or more optical elements configured to manipulate an amplitude, frequency, phase and/or polarization of the one or more light pulses (Mitra teaches the orientation of the trefoil waveform with respect to the fixed hBN lattice structure was controlled by the sub-cycle time delay between the w and 2w pulses lightwaves, which is altered through a relative optical path-length change, page 3 second paragraph),
wherein the one or more optical elements are chosen from among beam splitters, diffractive elements, active polarization control, passive polarization control, lenses, mirrors, fibers, structured optical materials, metamaterials and non-linear elements (Fig. 3 depicts methodology to control and probe band engineering with application to valleytronics, where the polarization state of the generated third harmonic is analyzed by quarter waveplate and Wollaston prism, encode the information about the induced valley polarization, page 7, where a Wollaston prism is known in the art for use as an element for polarization control).
Regarding dependent claim 14, Mitra discloses the device according to claim 13, further comprising an amplitude control unit configured to control an amplitude of the one or more light pulses (Mitra teaches the pump trefoil waveform was prepared by interferometrically combining two counter-rotating circularly polarized lightwaves of about 30 femtosecond (fs) long and with an amplitude ratio of 2:1, see Fig. 3A), and/or a phase control unit configured to induce a phase shift of the one or more light pulses.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-2, 4, and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mak, K. et al. “Control of valley polarization in monolayer MoS2 by optical helicity” Nature Nanotechnology, vol. 7, no. 8, June 17, 2012, 19 pages (of record, see IDS dated 09/08/2023, hereinafter, “Mak”) in view of José A. Rodrigo, Tatiana Alieva, Eugeny Abramochkin, and Izan Castro, "Shaping of light beams along curves in three dimensions," Opt. Express 21, 20544-20555 (2013) (hereinafter, “Rodrigo”).
Regarding independent claim 1, Mak teaches a method for encoding information by valley polarization in a material using an electromagnetic field (Mak teaches the viability of optical valley control and suggests the possibility of valley-based electronic and optoelectronic applications in MoS2 monolayers, refer to abstract, column 1 page 494), the method comprising:
providing a material (Mak teaches monolayer and bilayer MoS2 samples of a few micrometres in size were obtained by mechanical exfoliation from a bulk crystal, refer to Methods section, first column on page 497), and
applying the electromagnetic field onto the material (Mak demonstrates that optical pumping with circularly polarized light can achieve complete dynamic valley polarization in monolayer MoS2, refer to abstract, first column, page 494),
wherein the electromagnetic field possesses symmetry (Mak teaches the application of circularly polarized light to a material, first paragraph, column 1, page 494, where circularly polarized light has an infinite symmetry) and the real-space lattice structure or real-space sub-lattice structure of the material possesses an n-fold symmetry (Mak teaches monolayer MoS2 consists of a single layer of molybdenum atoms sandwiched between two layers of sulphur atoms in a trigonal prismatic structure, see at least Fig. 1a, and refer to second full paragraph in first column on page 494, where a trigonal structure has a three-fold symmetry),
wherein the electromagnetic field induces and/or manipulates valley polarization in the bandstructure of the material (Mak teaches the variation of photoluminescence helicity with pump photon energy further supports the interpretation of perfect valley selective excitation in monolayer MoS2, refer to second column of page 496 to first column of page 497).
Mak does not explicitly teach or disclose the electromagnetic field possesses an m-fold symmetry, and therefore does not teach or suggest wherein the symmetry of the electromagnetic field corresponds to the symmetry of the real-space lattice structure or real-space sub-lattice structure of the material in such a way that n is an integer multiple of m (Mak teaches circularly polarized light applied to the sample of MoS2 to achieve complete dynamic valley polarization in monolayer MoS2, refer to abstract, first column, page 494, but a circle does not possess an integer value of symmetry, being an infinitely symmetric geometric object).
In the related field of optics, Rodrigo teaches a method for efficient and versatile generation of light beams whose intensity and phase are prescribed along arbitrary 3D curves (refer to abstract thereof), such as depicted in at least Fig. 1. Rodrigo teaches the beam shape is preserved during propagation along the axial direction, except for scaling and rotation (section 2.1, page 3 thereof), and further teaches that a phase gradient of a light beam can be adapted to more complex geometries, such as the trefoil knotted curve in Fig. 2(c) (page 5 last paragraph), see also Fig. 3d and Fig. 4d thereof.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have applied the teachings of Rodrigo to the disclosure of Mak and used a shaped electromagnetic field, such as a trefoil-shaped light beam as demonstrated by Rodrigo, to apply a light beam with an integer value of symmetry to the sample of MoS2 with three-fold symmetry, because Rodrigo teaches the shaping of the beam intensity and phase in 3D configurations has applications in relevant research fields such as imaging, laser micro-machining and optical trapping (Rodrigo, page 2, Introduction, second paragraph thereof).
The prior art combination of Mak in view of Rodrigo teaches and renders obvious the limitation wherein the symmetry of the electromagnetic field corresponds to the symmetry of the real-space lattice structure or real-space sub-lattice structure of the material in such a way that n is an integer multiple of m, because a trefoil-shaped electromagnetic field and MoS2 with trigonal structure both have three-fold symmetry, and as such the symmetries are related by an integer factor of 1.
Regarding dependent claim 2, Mak in view of Rodrigo teaches the method according to claim 1, and Mak further teaches wherein the material is a multilayer material (Mak teaches the use of bilayer MoS2, see at least Fig. 1d, refer to page 494, second column, last paragraph).
Regarding dependent claim 4, Mak in view of Rodrigo teaches the method according to claim 1, and Rodrigo further teaches wherein the electromagnetic field is a superposition of a first component and one or more further components (the Gaussian beam terms describing the field amplitudes of a beam expressed by Equation 1 are superpositions to generate the shaped field, page 3 thereof), wherein the first component has a different polarization from the other components, and/or wherein the first component has a different wavelength from the other components (refer to Table 1 on page 11 of Rodrigo, listing the parametric expressions of the curves c3(t) used to generate beams of various shapes, and Rodrigo teaches a stable beam that preserves its shape under focusing except for rotation and scaling a factor proportional to the wavelength l, see page 3, section 2.1, third paragraph, therefore as best understood by the Examiner the wavelength of the various components are different to generate the beam shape).
Regarding dependent claim 5, Mak in view of Rodrigo teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the electromagnetic field is a superposition of a first component and one or more further components (the Gaussian beam terms describing the field amplitudes of a beam expressed by Equation 1 are superpositions to generate the shaped field, page 3 thereof), wherein the first component and the other components have identical polarizations, and/or wherein the first component has a different wavelength from the other components (refer to Table 1 on page 11 of Rodrigo, listing the parametric expressions of the curves c3(t) used to generate beams of various shapes, and Rodrigo teaches a stable beam that preserves its shape under focusing except for rotation and scaling a factor proportional to the wavelength l, see page 3, section 2.1, third paragraph, therefore as best understood by the Examiner the wavelength of the various components are different to generate the beam shape)..
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mak in view of Rand et al. US PGPub 2013/0292546 A1 (hereinafter, “Rand”).
Regarding independent claim 13, Mak teaches a device for generating an electromagnetic field suitable for inducing and/or manipulating valley polarization in a multilayer material, the device comprising:
a laser source configured to emit light (Mak teaches the photoluminescence measurements were performed using excitation at three photon energies, see arrows in Fig. 2a, corresponding to 1.96 eV from HeNe laser, and 2.09 eV and 2.33 eV from solid-state lasers radiation, refer to Optical measurements in Methods section, page 497), and
one or more optical elements configured to manipulate an amplitude, frequency, phase and/or polarization of the light (Mak teaches the laser radiation was sent through a Babinet–Soleil compensator, refer to Optical measurements in Methods section, page 497, where a Babinet–Soleil compensator is known in the art as a type of waveplate to manipulate the polarization of light incident thereupon),
wherein the one or more optical elements are chosen from among beam splitters, diffractive elements, active polarization control, passive polarization control, lenses, mirrors, fibers, structured optical materials, metamaterials and non-linear elements (as noted above, Mak teaches the laser radiation was sent through a Babinet–Soleil compensator, refer to Optical measurements in Methods section, page 497, where a Babinet–Soleil compensator is known in the art as a type of waveplate to manipulate the polarization of light incident thereupon).
Mak does not explicitly teach a pulsed laser source, and therefore does not teach the laser source is configured to emit one or more light pulses (Mak discloses the use of a helium-neon laser but does not specify or suggest the operation of the laser in a pulsed manner).
In the field of lasers, Rand describes various embodiments that, under suitable conditions as described, exploit two phenomena that accompany optically-induced magnetism to form altogether new types of devices (par. [0026] thereof). Rand discloses an example power conditioning circuit 100 for a repetitively charged capacitive source with a magneto-electric generator 102 which is fed by a pump source 104, for example, a pulsed laser beam (par. [0047] thereof).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have applied the teachings of Rand to the disclosure of Mak and used a pulsed laser source, as taught by Rand, in the device taught by Mak, because Rand teaches optically-induced magnetic fields can be generated in semiconductors by tuning the pump wavelength into the region of the energy gap, and that by choosing any wavelength longer than the absorption edge wavelength, a magnetic field can be generated in the bound electron population of the host material, without interfering with conduction band currents to induce a large magnetic field in a medium for the purpose of preserving spin orientation far longer than the usual dephasing time, which would be useful in spintronic circuits or quantum bit registers in quantum computers or other devices where the preservation of spin orientation for prolonged times is desirable (Rand par. [0086]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 11 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Regarding dependent claim 11, Mitra discloses the method according to claim 9, but does not disclose wherein an induced valley polarization is associated with the intensity of the emitted component of the probe pulse, wherein a degree of valley polarization is deduced from the intensity of the emitted component of the probe pulse (Mitra does not explicitly disclose the intensity of the emitted component of the probe pulse is related or correlated with the induced valley polarization, as best understood by the Examiner).
Likewise, the prior art combination of Mak in view of Rodrigo does not teach the method according to claim 9, therefore the limitations wherein an induced valley polarization is associated with the intensity of the emitted component of the probe pulse, wherein a degree of valley polarization is deduced from the intensity of the emitted component of the probe pulse, are allowable by their dependency on an allowable claim.
Response to Arguments
The affidavit under 37 CFR 1.132 filed 02/23/2026 is sufficient to overcome the rejection of claims 1-14 based upon Tyulnev, Igor & Jiménez-Galán, Álvaro & Poborska, Julita & Vamos, Lenard & Silva, Rui & Russell, Philip & Tani, Francesco & Smirnova, Olga & Ivanov, Misha & Biegert, Jens. (2023). "Valleytronics in bulk MoS2 by optical control of parity and time symmetries." 10.48550/arXiv.2302.12564, applied under 35 U.S.C. § 102.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Justin W Hustoft whose telephone number is (571)272-4519. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:30 AM - 5:30 PM Eastern Time.
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/JUSTIN W. HUSTOFT/ Examiner, Art Unit 2872
/THOMAS K PHAM/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2872
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