US 7,777,235 8/17/2010 LIGHT EMITTING DIODES WITH IMPROVED LIGHT COLLIMATION Mazzochette, Blonder

• An LED "bulb" with improved light collimation comprises a substrate-supported LED die disposed within a transparent dome. A portion of the dome laterally circumscribe the die comprises light reflecting material to reflect emitted light back to the die.

US 7,719,021 5/18/2010 LIGHT EFFICIENT LED ASSEMBLY INCLUDING A SHAPED REFLECTIVE CAVITY AND METHOD FOR MAKING SAME Harrah , Blonder

• A method for making an efficient light emitting diode (LED) assembly by providing a thermally conductive base having a surface cavity, disposing a reflective paste in the surface cavity, and shaping the reflective paste to form a reflective cavity. One or more LED die may be mounted in the reflective cavity such that the emitted light is reflected by the side walls, thus increasing the light output of the LED assembly.

US 7,633,093 12/15/2009 METHOD OF MAKING OPTICAL LIGHT ENGINES WITH ELEVATED LEDS AND RESULTING PRODUCT Blonder, Harrah

• An optical light engine having mounting pedestals for elevating LED dies above the base's surface. A molding a dome centered around the LED die is placed over the pedestal. The encapsulating material is then injected through an input port to mold the dome around the LED die.

US 7,405,880 7/29/2008 MULTILAYER OPTICAL FILTER Nikolov, et al.

• A method for producing thin film optical interference filters.

US 7,252,408 8/7/2007 LED ARRAY PACKAGE WITH INTERNAL FEEDBACK AND CONTROL Mazzochette, Blonder

• A packaged LED array for high temperature operation on a thermally conductive substrate. An LED driver is mounted within the LED array package, and thermally coupled to the metal base. One or more of the LED dice can be switched from the driver to a measurement circuit and used as a photodetector to measure the light output of the LED array. The measured photodetector signal can further be used as a feedback signal to control the LED array light output.

US 7,227,684 6/5/2007 METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVDING BEAM POLARIZATION Wang, et al.

• A thin film, wire grid polarizer.

US 7,176,502 2/13/2007, US 7,098,483 8/29/2006, US 7,095,053 8/22/2006 LIGHT EMITTING DIODES PACKAGED FOR HIGH TEMPERATURE OPERATION Mazzochette, Blonder

• A family of LED packages based on a unique metal/ceramic substrate. This novel package can operate at temperatures as high as 250.degree. C.

US 7,157,745 1/2/2007 ILLUMINATION DEVICES COMPRISING WHITE LIGHT EMITTING DIODES AND DIODE ARRAYS AND METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING THEM Blonder, Amaya

• White LEDs often are actually a combination of a blue/UV LED pumping a yellowish phosphor to create white light. This patent describes a way to controllably deposit the phosphor layer on the LED by first coating the LED with a clear polymer, and then placing the LED in a phosphor particle shower.

US7,050,233 5/23/2006 PRECISION PHASE RETARDATION DEVICES AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Nikolov, et al.

• Optical thin film grating phase retarders.

US 5,578,101 11/26/96 METHOD OF MAKING A SOL-GEL GLASS BODY AND REMOVING SAME FROM MOLD Blonder, Greg E., Frankenthal, Robert P.,Johnson, Jr. David W., Rabinovich, Eliezer M.

• Forming glass shapes by molding and firing a silica containing gel, and removing it from the mold using electro-decomposition of the fragile gel at the mold surface.

US 5,380,551 01/10/95 VAPOR DEPOSITION PROCESS FOR COATING ARTICLES OF MANUFACTURE; SUPPORTING LENSES AT FOUR POINTS OF CONTACT AT AN INTERSECTION OF A PAIR OF TRENCHES Blonder Greg E; Dautartas Mindaugas F

• Inexpensive, volume manufacturable technique to deposit anti-reflection coatings on microlenses for laser packages.

US 5,307,434 04/26/94 ARTICLE THAT COMPRISES A LASER COUPLED TO AN OPTICAL FIBER Blonder Greg E; MacDonald William M

• A simple and stable way to align and secure an optical fiber to a laser, on a common substrate, by melting solder with an integral heater.

US 5,291,572 03/01/94 ARTICLE COMPRISING COMPRESSION BONDED PARTS Blonder Greg E; MacDonald William M

• A method to attach two small objects together using pressure and no heat- basically a thin film cold-weld seal between a metal gasket and a toothed metal lid. Used to attach lasers to substrates, or to create vacuum sealed I.C. packages.

US 5,267,077 11/30/93 SPHERICAL MULTICOMPONENT OPTICAL ISOLATOR Blonder Greg E

• Optical isolators prevent reflections from reentering a package. This design manufactures isolators in sheets, which are then diced and shaped into spheres. This self aligns the optics to the isolator, at low cost and in volume.

US 5,200,024 04/06/93 WET CHEMICAL ETCHING TECHNIQUE FOR OPTICAL FIBERS; EXPOSING PORTIONS TO A TREATING AGENT SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH ETCHANT; RELATIVE ETCH RATES OF CORE AND PERIPHERAL LAYERS ARE MODIFIED; FORMS DOUBLE CONICAL LENS; IMPROVED COUPLING EFFICIENCY Blonder Greg E; Johnson Bertrand H

• A batch technique that etches optical fibers into a lens shape, to improve optical coupling with a laser. Extremely reproducible and efficient.

US 5,182,787 01/26/93 OPTICAL WAVEGUIDE STRUCTURE INCLUDING REFLECTIVE ASYMMETRIC CAVITY Blonder Greg E; Cappuzzo Mark A; Clark Harold R;

• Etched mirror in a thin film optical waveguide, to direct light out of the guide and into a surface mounted detector.

US 5,181,216 01/19/93 PHOTONICS MODULE APPARATUS, and

US 5,124,281 06/23/92 METHOD OF FABRICATING A PHOTONICS MODULE COMPRISING A SPHERICAL LENS Ackerman David A; Blonder Greg E; MacDonald William M

• All silicon laser package, which uses etched features in the silicon to hold and align the laser, photodetector and lenses. Batch manufacturable.

US 5,179,609 01/12/93 OPTICAL ASSEMBLY INCLUDING FIBER ATTACHMENT Blonder Greg E; Dautartas Mindaugas F; Wong Yiu-Huen

• Optical package using etched silicon to hold a fiber, and another silicon base with a laser, such that the two interlock with sub-wavelength accuracy.

US 5,158,908 10/27/92 DISTRIBUTED BRAGG REFLECTORS AND DEVICES INCORPORATING SAME; ALTERNATION LAYERS WITH DIFFERENT REFRACTIVE INDEX; EPITAXIAL GROWTH FOLLOWED BY ETCHING REMOVAL AND BACKFILLING Blonder Greg E; Chandross Edwin A; Ho Seng-Tiong; McCall Samuel L; Slusher Richart E; West Kenneth W

• Design for a Distributed Bragg Reflector laser which etches out one material in a multilayer reflector, and replaces it with a lower index plastic. Used for small lasers with controlled wavelength.

US 5,135,605 08/04/92 METHODS FOR MAKING MIRRORS; TURNING-TYPE FOR OPTICAL WAVEGUIDES; UNDERCUT ETCHING ON CAVITY SIDE; FORTY-FIVE DEGREE SLOPE Blonder Greg E; Cappuzzo Mark A; Clark Harold R; Scotti Ronald E; Wong Yiu-Huen

• Fabrication technique for a mirror at the end of a thin film optical waveguide.

US 5,101,457 03/31/92 OPTICAL FIBER WITH AN INTEGRAL LENS AT ITS END PORTION Blonder Greg E; Johnson Bertrand H

• An optical package employing a chemically etched lensed fiber.

US 5,101,454 03/31/92 LIGHT EMITTING DIODE WITH MULTIFACETED REFLECTOR TO INCREASE COUPLING EFFICIENCY AND ALIGNMENT TOLERANCE Blonder Greg E; Freund Robert S; Watts Roderick K; Wetzel Robert C

• An LED is etched to form a series of concentric rings, and the rings function as a light collector to improve the coupling efficiency of the LED to a fiber. Self- aligned and batch manufacturable.

US 5,091,053 02/25/92 MATTE FINISHES ON OPTICAL FIBERS AND OTHER GLASS ARTICLES; USING MIXTURE OF BUFFERED HYDROFLUORIC ACID AND TREATING ACID Blonder Greg E; Johnson Bertrand H

• A chemical etch to turn a clear glass surface translucent. Improves adhesion of metal layers, can be used to diffuse light or for decorative patterns.

US 5,048,908 09/17/91 METHOD OF PRODUCING APPARATUS COMPRISING A LOW-REFLECTION OPTICAL FIBER CONNECTION Blonder Greg E; Johnson Bertrand H; Paola Carl R

• To prevent unwanted reflections off the end of an optical fiber, the ends are often polished at an angle- which is slow and unreproducible. This patent describes a way to cleave fibers at an angle, obtaining the same optical effect but with dramatically improved quality and reduced cost.

US 5,039,190 08/13/91 APPARATUS COMPRISING AN OPTICAL GAIN DEVICE, AND METHOD OF PRODUCING THE DEVICE Blonder Greg E; Jacobson Dale C; Kistler Rodney C; Poate John M; Polman Albert

• Pioneer patent to describe the use of ion-implanted Er to fabricate optical waveguides into an optical amplifier

US 5,023,881 06/11/91 PHOTONICS MODULE AND ALIGNMENT METHOD; OPTICAL Ackerman David A; Blonder Greg E; Mac Donald William M

• Laser bonding and alignment method that uses the surface tension in melted solder bumps to hold and center the laser.

US 4,995,686 02/26/91 OPTICAL SPLITTER/COMBINER WITH AN ADIABATIC MIXING REGION Blonder Greg E; Blyler Lee L Jr; Grimes Gary J

• A multifiber, plastic splitter to combine signals from many sources and passively redistribute those signals. Design insure low loss, well mixed combination of signals.

US 4,978,189 12/18/90 HYBRID OPTICAL ISOLATOR, CIRCULATOR OR SWITCH, AND SYSTEMS UTILIZING SAME Blonder Greg E; Henry Charles H; Kazarinov Rudolf F; Wolfe, Raymond

• A thin film optical isolator and rotator, using a combination of thin film waveguide splitters and polarizers, with hybrid rotators.

US 4,966,433 10/30/90 DEVICE INCLUDING A COMPONENT IN ALIGNMENT WITH A SUBSTRATE-SUPPORTED WAVEGUIDE Blonder Greg E

• A method of etching the end of a thin film wave guide, creating a precision groove to accept an optical fiber assembly with no additional alignment.

US 4,945,400 07/31/90 SUBASSEMBLY FOR OPTOELECTRONIC DEVICES Blonder Greg E; Johnson Bertrand H and,

US 4,932,745 06/12/90 RADIATION SWITCHING ARRANGEMENT WITH MOVING DEFLECTING ELEMENT Blonder Greg E

• A mechanical optical switch, using a small mirror etched from silicon to deflect the optical path. Simple, robust construction with low optical losses.

US 4,914,667 04/03/90 HYBRID LASER FOR OPTICAL COMMUNICATIONS, AND TRANSMITTER, SYSTEM, AND METHOD Blonder Greg E; Henry Charles H; Kazarinov Rudolf F; Olsson Nils A; Orlowsky Kenneth J

• A laser package employing an integral grating filter to fix the lasing frequency.

US 4,904,036 02/27/90 SUBASSEMBLIES FOR OPTOELECTRONIC HYBRID INTEGRATED CIRCUITS Blonder Greg E

• A complete optical transceiver is formed on a silicon base. It uses waveguides to couple lasers, fibers and photoconductors into a hybrid optical device. A second silicon member forms a sealing lid.

US 4,897,711 01/30/90 SUBASSEMBLY FOR OPTOELECTRONIC DEVICES Blonder Greg E; Johnson Bertrand H

• An etched silicon lid and base, which holds a photodetector in the conventional planar arrangement, but deflects the light from a fiber at ~45 degrees to reach the detector. Extremely manufacturable.

US 4,828,358 05/09/89 TESTING IN THE MANUFACTURE, OPERATION, AND MAINTENANCE OF OPTICAL DEVICE ASSEMBLIES Blonder Greg E

• Pioneer patent to provide a secondary function to all wave guide devices used in communication. Secondary functions included testing, maintenance, fault recovery, etc.

US 4,810,557 03/07/89 METHOD OF MAKING AN ARTICLE COMPRISING A TANDEM GROOVE, AND ARTICLE PRODUCED BY THE METHOD; FOR RECEIVING OPTICAL FIBER Blonder Greg E

• Method to etch a dual width groove in a silicon substrate, preserving the accuracy of both groove widths. Groove is designed to accept the bare glass fiber at one end, and the plastic coated fiber at the other for strain relief.