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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 21-40 have been considered but are moot because the examiner has introduced S. Vadilonga et al. to teach the amended limitations of independent claims 21 and 30.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, fourth paragraph:
Subject to the following paragraph [i.e., the fifth paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112], a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claims 22 and 33 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends. The limitations of claims 22 and 33 are claimed in parent claims 21 and 30, respectively. Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 21-23, 25-30, 32-34 and 36-40 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu (CN 113054531) in view of S. Vadilonga et al., "Piezo-modulated active grating for selecting X-ray pulses separated by one nanosecond," Opt. Express 29, 34962-34976 (2021).
Regarding claim 21, Liu discloses: An optical device (Fig. 4) comprising: an optical source (Fig. 4, 4 Page 7 Paragraph 6 of translation "Correspondingly, the present embodiment provides a tunable vertical cavity surface emitting laser, referring to FIG. 4, comprising: a substrate layer 2; a gain structure 4 located on the substrate layer 2;"); and a modulator on the optical source (Fig. 4, 8 Page 8 Paragraph 9 of translation "the refractive index change of the gate main body can modulate the reflection rate and reflection bandwidth and reflection center wavelength of the whole grating layer, so as to realize the tuning of the vertical cavity surface emitting laser emitting laser wavelength." 8 is shown to be on 4), wherein the modulator comprises a high contrast grating structure comprising a plurality of grating lines, and (Page 6 Paragraph 4 of translation "Referring to FIG. 3, a grating layer 8 is formed on one side of the gain structure 4 facing away from the substrate layer 2. The grating layer 8 comprises a plurality of grating main bodies 81 and a grating gap 82 between the adjacent gate main bodies 81.") wherein the plurality of grating lines comprise Pockels material. (Page 7 Paragraph 3 of translation "The material of the gate body 81 includes a lithium niobate crystal or a potassium niobate crystal." See pertinent art #1 showing lithium niobate crystal to be Pockels material) wherein the high contrast grating structure comprises a periodic or quasi-periodic structure (Figs. 4 & 5 shows the high contrast grating structure 8 having a periodic or quasi-periodic structure) of alternating low and high refractive index (RI) elements (Figs. 4 & 5 show the high contrast grating 8 alternating between element 81 which is made of lithium niobate and element 82 which is made of air. The refractive index of air is very close to 1 and is the low refractive index element. Lithium niobate has a refractive index greater than 2 depending on the wavelength and is the high refractive index element. See pertinent art #4 for the index of refraction of Lithium niobate.) and, wherein the high contrast grating structure is configured to enable applying two different voltages to at least two different portions within the high contrast grating structure. (Page 7 Paragraph 1 "the first half-ring conductive region 61 and the second half-ring conductive region 62 are applied with different voltages, easy to breakdown" With 61 applying one voltage and 62 applying a second voltage the edges of the high contrast grating structures will have at least two different voltages in at least to portions of the high contrast grating structures.)
Liu does not disclose: and at least two different contacts arranged in an interleaved manner to form an interdigitated grid of gates, the two different portions comprising at least the two different contacts.
Vadilonga et al. disclose: at least two different contacts(electrode connected to positive voltage, electrode connected to negative voltage) arranged in an interleaved manner to form an interdigitated grid of gates (Fig. 1, Page 34965). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Liu by forming the two contacts arranged in an interleaved manner to form an interdigitated grid of gates as disclosed by Vadilonga in order to modulate the output of the vertical cavity surface emitting laser.
Regarding claim 22, Liu discloses: at least one grating line of the plurality of grating lines comprises a contact (see the rejection of claim 1).
Regarding claim 23, Liu discloses: the modulator is operable to reflect optical signals from the optical source back towards the optical source when a voltage is applied to the contact. (Page 8 Paragraph 9 of translation "In this embodiment, the material of the gate main body is electro-optical material, the first electrode layer 6 is adapted to the gate main body modulation, capable of adjusting the refractive index of the gate main body. the reflection rate and the reflection bandwidth of the whole grating layer and the reflection center wavelength are the same with the period of the gate main body;")
Regarding claim 25, Liu discloses: the plurality of grating lines comprises sub-wavelength dimensions in at least one dimension. (Page 7 Paragraph 2 of translation "The grating layer 8 is a sub- wavelength grating structure.")
Regarding claim 26, Liu discloses: the optical source comprises a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL), a photonic-crystal surface-emitting laser (PCSEL), or a high-order distributed feedback (DFB) laser. (Page 7 Paragraph 6 of translation "Correspondingly, the present embodiment provides a tunable vertical cavity surface emitting laser, referring to FIG. 4")
Regarding claim 27, Liu discloses: a refractive index associated with the modulator is configured by one or more of: a width of the plurality of grating lines, a spacing between the plurality of grating lines, and a periodicity of the plurality of grating lines. (It is inherent to a grating that the refractive index will change depending on the width of the grating lines, the spacing between the lines and the periodicity of the grating lines. As such the refractive index associated with the modulator is configured by the width of the grating lines, the spacing between the grating lines and the periodicity of grating lines)
Regarding claim 28, Liu discloses: the modulator is configured to provide phase modulation to incident beams or waves coupled into the modulator based on an adjustment to the refractive index (RI) associated with the modulator. (Page 8 Paragraph 9 "the refractive index change of the gate main body can modulate the reflection rate and reflection bandwidth and reflection center wavelength of the whole grating layer, so as to realize the tuning of the vertical cavity surface emitting laser emitting laser wavelength.")
Regarding claim 29, Liu discloses: the modulator is configured to provide polarization modulation to incident beams or waves coupled into the modulator. (Page 8 Paragraph 9 of translation "wherein the grating layer is suitable for selecting the polarization state of the laser. setting the grating layer as sub- wavelength grating structure is to obtain the polarized light output, the structure can perform polarization selection and replace or partially replace the top Bragg reflector to serve as a reflective layer.")
Regarding claim 30, Liu discloses: An optical device comprising: an optical source (Fig. 4, 4 Page 7 Paragraph 6 of translation "Correspondingly, the present embodiment provides a tunable vertical cavity surface emitting laser, referring to FIG. 4, comprising: a substrate layer 2; a gain structure 4 located on the substrate layer 2;"); and a modulator on the optical source (Fig. 4, 8 Page 8 Paragraph 9 of translation "the refractive index change of the gate main body can modulate the reflection rate and reflection bandwidth and reflection center wavelength of the whole grating layer, so as to realize the tuning of the vertical cavity surface emitting laser emitting laser wavelength." 8 is shown to be on 4), wherein the modulator comprises: a high contrast grating structure comprising a plurality of grating lines (Page 6 Paragraph 4 of the translation "Referring to FIG. 3, a grating layer 8 is formed on one side of the gain structure 4 facing away from the substrate layer 2. The grating layer 8 comprises a plurality of grating main bodies 81 and a grating gap 82 between the adjacent gate main bodies 81.") comprising a first material (Fig. 4, 82 the first material is the air between 81); and Pockels material between or on the first material (Fig 4, 82 is between 82 Page 7 Paragraph 3 "The material of the gate body 81 includes a lithium niobate crystal or a potassium niobate crystal." See pertinent art #1 showing lithium niobate crystal to be Pockels material); and wherein the high contrast grating structure comprises a periodic or quasi-periodic structure (Figs. 4 & 5 shows the high contrast grating structure 8 having a periodic or quasi-periodic structure) of alternating low and high refractive index (RI) elements (Figs. 4 & 5 show the high contrast grating 8 alternating between element 81 which is made of lithium niobate and element 82 which is made of air. The refractive index of air is very close to 1 and is the low refractive index element. Lithium niobate has a refractive index greater than 2 depending on the wavelength and is the high refractive index element. See pertinent art #4 for the index of refraction of Lithium niobate.) wherein the high contrast grating structure is configured to enable applying two different voltages to at least two different portions within the high contrast grating structure. (Page 7 Paragraph 1 "the first half-ring conductive region 61 and the second half-ring conductive region 62 are applied with different voltages, easy to breakdown" With 61 applying one voltage and 62 applying a second voltage the edges of the high contrast grating structures will have at least two different voltages in at least to portions of the high contrast grating structures.)
Liu does not disclose: and at least two different contacts arranged in an interleaved manner to form an interdigitated grid of gates, the two different portions comprising at least the two different contacts.
Vadilonga et al. disclose: at least two different contacts(electrode connected to positive voltage, electrode connected to negative voltage) arranged in an interleaved manner to form an interdigitated grid of gates (Fig. 1, Page 34965). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Liu by forming the two contacts arranged in an interleaved manner to form an interdigitated grid of gates as disclosed by Vadilonga in order to modulate the output of the vertical cavity surface emitting laser.
Regarding claim 32, Liu discloses: the first material comprises a dielectric material. (Air is a dielectric material)
Regarding claim 33, Liu discloses: at least one grating line of the plurality of grating lines comprises a contact. (see the rejection of claim 30)
Regarding claim 34, Liu t discloses: the modulator is operable to reflect optical signals from the optical source back towards the optical source when a voltage is applied to the contact. (Page 8 Paragraph 9 of translation "In this embodiment, the material of the gate main body is electro-optical material, the first electrode layer 6 is adapted to the gate main body modulation, capable of adjusting the refractive index of the gate main body. the reflection rate and the reflection bandwidth of the whole grating layer and the reflection center wavelength are the same with the period of the gate main body;")
Regarding claim 36, Liu discloses: the plurality of grating lines comprises sub-wavelength dimensions in at least one dimension. (Page 7 Paragraph 2 "The grating layer 8 is a sub-wavelength grating structure.")
Regarding claim 37, Liu discloses: the optical source comprises a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL), a photonic-crystal surface-emitting laser (PCSEL), or a high-order distributed feedback (DFB) laser. (Page 7 Paragraph 6 "Correspondingly, the present embodiment provides a tunable vertical cavity surface emitting laser, referring to FIG. 4")
Regarding claim 38, Liu discloses: a refractive index associated with the modulator is configured by one or more of: a width of the grating lines, a spacing between the grating lines, and a periodicity of the grating lines. (It is inherent to a grating that the refractive index will change depending on the width of the grating lines, the spacing between the lines and the periodicity of the grating lines. As such the refractive index associated with the modulator is configured by the width of the grating lines, the spacing between the grating lines and the periodicity of grating lines)
Regarding claim 39, Liu discloses: the modulator is configured to provide phase modulation to incident beams or waves coupled into the modulator based on an adjustment of the refractive index associated with the modulator. (Page 8 Paragraph 9 of translation "the refractive index change of the gate main body can modulate the reflection rate and reflection bandwidth and reflection center wavelength of the whole grating layer, so as to realize the tuning of the vertical cavity surface emitting laser emitting laser wavelength.")
Regarding claim 40, Liu discloses: the modulator is configured to provide polarization modulation to incident beams or waves coupled into the modulator. (Page 4 Paragraphs 9-10 "wherein the grating layer is suitable for selecting the polarization state of the laser. setting the grating layer as sub- wavelength grating structure is to obtain the polarized light output, the structure can perform polarization selection and replace or partially replace the top Bragg reflector to serve as a reflective layer.")
Claims 24, 31, 35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu (CN 113054531) in view of S. Vadilonga et al., "Piezo-modulated active grating for selecting X-ray pulses separated by one nanosecond," Opt. Express 29, 34962-34976 (2021) and Qiao et al. (US PG Pub 2021/0167580).
Regarding claim 24, Liu as modified do not disclose: the modulator is operable to deflect optical signals received from the optical source at a tunable angle from perpendicular to a surface of the modulator based on a voltage applied to the contact.
Qiao teaches the modulator is operable to deflect optical signals received from the optical source at a tunable angle from perpendicular to a surface of the modulator based on a voltage applied to the contact. (Claim 44 "The apparatus or method of any preceding embodiment, wherein the at least one said vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) comprises a VCSEL array over which said top side high contrast gratings (HCGs) are integrated; and wherein said apparatus is configured to provide beam steering and polarization switching by electrically addressing either individually, and/or in groups, the VCSELs within the VCSEL."). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the laser device as taught by Liu as modified by having the modulator deflect optical source based on voltage applied to the contact as disclosed by Qiao. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to change the far field patterns of the light. (Qiao Paragraphs 0104-0105)
Regarding claim 31, Liu as modified do not disclose: the first material comprises a semiconductor.
Qiao teaches the first material comprises a semiconductor. (Fig. 4B show the grating material 196. the first material in between 196 labeled as 194 Paragraph 0059 "It should be appreciated that the refractive indices n1, n2 and n3 can theoretically be any values, while more preferably the values of n1, n2 and n3 are more typically among 1.5 (SiO₂), 1.8 (Al₂O₃), 2.0 (SiNx), 2.9 (AlAs), 3.2 (AlGaAs or InGaP), 3.5 (GaAs) or in a similar range.") It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the first material as taught by Liu as modified by having the first material be a semiconductor as disclosed by Qiao. The selection of a known material based on its suitability for its intended use supported a prima facie obviousness determination in Sinclair & Carroll Co. V. Interchemical Corp., 325 U.S. 327, 65 USPQ 297 (1945) MPEP 2144.07. The reference has demonstrated air being the first material or a semiconductor being the first material can be low index material between the grating material (See Fig. 4A 174 showing air as the in between material and Fig. 4B 194 showing semiconductor material as the in between material).
Regarding claim 35, Liu as modified do not disclose: the modulator is operable to deflect optical signals received from the optical source at a tunable angle from perpendicular to a surface of the modulator based on a voltage applied to the contact.
Qiao discloses: the modulator is operable to deflect optical signals received from the optical source at a tunable angle from perpendicular to a surface of the modulator based on a voltage applied to the contact. (Claim 44 "The apparatus or method of any preceding embodiment, wherein the at least one said vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) comprises a VCSEL array over which said top side high contrast gratings (HCGs) are integrated; and wherein said apparatus is configured to provide beam steering and polarization switching by electrically addressing either individually, and/or in groups, the VCSELs within the VCSEL."). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the laser device as taught by Liu as modified by having the modulator deflect optical source based on voltage applied to the contact as disclosed by Qiao. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to change the far field patterns of the light. (Qiao Paragraphs 0104-0105).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to XINNING(TOM) NIU whose telephone number is (571)270-1437. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9:30am-6:00pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Minsun Harvey can be reached at 571-272-1835. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/XINNING(Tom) NIU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2828
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