A light detection and ranging system can have an array of solid-state optical energy emitters coupled to a controller and at least one antennae. Each emitter may be coupled to a phase shifter that has a first waveguide and a second waveguide with a heating element continuously extending between the respective waveguides.

An optoelectronic device. The optoelectronic device comprising: a rib waveguide provided on a substrate of the device, the rib waveguide comprising a ridge portion and a slab portion; a heater, disposed within the slab portion; a thermally isolating trench, adjacent to the rib waveguide, and extending into the substrate of the device; and a thermally isolating cavity within the substrate, which is directly connected to the thermally isolating trench, and which extends across at least a part of a width of the rib waveguide between the rib waveguide and the substrate.

A photonic heater is provided. The photonic heater includes a current source and a transfer circuit. The transfer circuit connected to the current source. The photonic heater further includes a heating element. The heating element is connected to the transfer circuit. The transfer circuit is operable to regulate an amount of current being transferred from the current court to the heating element.

An optical modulator. The optical modulator comprising: a micro-ring resonator; and a bus waveguide, including an input waveguide region, an output waveguide region, and a coupling waveguide region optically coupled to the micro-ring resonator and located between the input waveguide region and the output waveguide region. The micro-ring resonator includes a modulation region, the modulation region being formed of a silicon portion and a III-V semiconductor portion separated by a crystalline rare earth oxide dielectric layer.

A light shielding member of the present invention includes a first polarizing plate, a second polarizing plate facing the first polarizing plate, and a thermosensitive sheet interposed between the first polarizing plate and the second polarizing plate, in which the first polarizing plate and the second polarizing plate are positioned so that their respective transmission axes are different from each other, and the thermosensitive sheet contains a side chain crystal polymer that crystallizes at a temperature lower than the melting point and exhibits fluidity at a temperature of the melting point or higher. The light shielding member may transmit light at a temperature lower than the melting point and may not transmit light at a temperature of the melting point or higher, when light travels from one of the first polarizing plate and the second polarizing plate toward the other.

A device having a layered structure that includes a layer of phase change material and a matrix material layer having embedding quantum emitters is tuned. An electric field is applied through the matrix material layer and the layer of phase change material to change the emission wavelengths of the quantum emitters. A phase of the phase change material is changed, in a non-volatile manner, in each of one or more of local areas of the phase change material, to form local alterations that are opposite to respective ones of the quantum emitters in the matrix material layer, to locally modify the electric field at the respective quantum emitters.

Building cladding systems with changeable appearances and methods of use are described. The building cladding system may include a substrate and a coating comprising a switchable material. Varying a voltage, temperature, or wavelength of light on or applied to the coating may change an appearance of the building cladding system.

A reflective display apparatus is provided. The reflective display apparatus includes a textured sub-micron metal film textured in a periodic manner, a phase change material (PCM) layer, and a phase change control layer that is configured to change reflection properties of the textured sub-micron metal film by causing the PCM to switch between at least two of a plurality of phases.

An optical heating device includes a heating light source unit having a plurality of planar light source areas in each of which a light source is arranged, and a controller configured to control light output of the light source. The controller includes a storage section that stores temperature distribution characteristic information describing a relation between a relative ratio of the light output of each light source and temperature distribution on a main surface of a tabular test piece, when light from the heating light source unit is irradiated toward the tabular test piece; and an output controller that changes a ratio of the light output based on the temperature distribution characteristic information, in order to bring the temperature distribution of a main surface of an object to be heated obtained when the light is irradiated under a predetermined light output for distribution measurement closer to a desired temperature distribution.

The invention is notably directed to a transflective display device. The device comprises a set of pixels, wherein each of the pixels comprises a portion of bi-stable, phase change material, hereafter a PCM portion, having at least two reversibly switchable states, in which it has two different values of refractive index and/or optical absorption. The device further comprises one or more spacers, optically transmissive, and extending under PCM portions of the set of pixels. One or more reflectors extend under the one or more spacers. An energization structure is in thermal or electrical communication with the PCM portions, via the one or more spacers. Moreover, a display controller is configured to selectively energize, via the energization structure, PCM portions of the pixels, so as to reversibly switch a state of a PCM portion of any of the pixels from one of its reversibly switchable states to the other. A backlight unit is furthermore configured, in the device, to allow illumination of the PCM portions through the one or more spacers. The backlight unit is controlled by a backlight unit controller, which is configured for modulating one or more physical properties of light emitted from the backlight unit. The invention is further directed to related devices and methods of operation.