Integrated electro-optical scanner

Claim 1

An integrated electro-optic device for scanning a photosensitive medium with a focused line of light comprising a plurality of closely spaced, intensity-modulated pixels to record a two-dimensional image, said device comprising: a base support; a planar electrode layer disposed on a surface of said base support; a first buffer layer disposed atop said first electrode layer, said first buffer layer comprising a transparent dielectric material; an optical waveguide layer disposed on said base support and overlying said first buffer layer and said planar electrode, said waveguide layer comprising an optically-transparent, electro-optic polymer material said waveguide layer being adapted to transmit therethrough, by multiple total internal reflection, a beam of light in a direction perpendicular to the layer thickness; a second buffer layer deposited atop said polymer layer said second buffer layer comprising a transparent dielectric material, said first and second buffer layers having a refractive index lower than the refractive index of said polymer layer; means defining a plurality of spaced parallel electrodes atop said second buffer layer; means for producing a uniform phase front of light within said polymer layer; means for selectively applying an electric field between each of selected spaced, parallel electrodes and said planar electrode to cause selected portions of said polymer layer therebetween to perturb selected portions of said phase front in accordance with pixel image information to be recorded; means for converting a perturbed wavefront of light within said waveguide layer to an intensity-modulated pixel pattern; and means for projecting an image of said intensity-modulated pixel pattern upon the surface of a photosensitive medium.