Patent ID: 8604574

Claim:
A transparent photodetector comprising: a substrate; a waveguide for guiding a light on the substrate; a displaceable structure that can move with respect to the substrate and is in proximity to the waveguide, the displaceable structure including a transparent section for interacting with the light guided by the waveguide and a conductive section in rigid connection with the transparent section; and a silicon nanowire array suspended with respect to the substrate and electrically connected to the conductive section of the displaceable structure, the silicon nanowire array comprising a plurality of silicon nanowires having piezoresistance; the substrate, waveguide, displaceable structure and silicon nanowire array forming the transparent photodetector; wherein, in operation, light propagating in the waveguide results in an optical force on the displaceable structure which further results in a strain on the nanowires to cause a change in electrical resistance of the nanowires.