Patent ID: 7950812

Claim:
A modulating corner-cube retroreflector, wherein the modulating corner-cube retroreflector is used for remote communications, comprising: a solid corner-cube retroreflector comprising a front surface and three mutually perpendicular surfaces, wherein the three mutually perpendicular surfaces include a first surface, a second surface and a third surface; a thin membrane disposed relative to at least one of the first surface, second surface, and third surface, wherein the thin membrane covers at least a portion of the surface; and a modulator adapted to cause the thin membrane to vibrate; wherein: the solid corner-cube retroreflector is configured to receive an incident beam of light from a source along a first path and is configured to return a reflected beam of light back towards the source along a second path that is substantially parallel to the first path; the thin membrane is configured to substantially frustrate total internal reflection of the incident beam of light when the thin membrane is moved relative to at least one surface of the retroreflector; and the modulator creates an electric field between at least one surface of the retroreflector and the thin membrane.