Patent ID: 6888142

Claim:
Electrostatically controlled optic device with a variable operating mode, comprising: a fixed support including a substrate in the form of a lamina a few millimeters or centimeters thick, an electrode composed of a film of electrically conductive material a few tens or hundreds of nanometers thick, applied to one side of the lamina constituting the substrate, a dielectric or ferroelectric insulating film with a thickness ranging from 0.1 micrometers to a few tens of micrometers, applied over the film constituting said electrode, and a movable petal, comprising a film of electrically conductive material, with a thickness ranging from a few fractions of micron to a few microns, having only an end portion connected rigidly to said insulating film and designed to assume an operating condition, in which it adheres completely with one of its surfaces, through electrostaticity, over said insulating film when an electric voltage is applied between said electrode and said petal, and a condition at rest, curled up, towards which the petal is drawn by its own elasticity when no electric voltage is applied, and in which a predominant portion of the aforesaid surface of the petal is spaced from said insulating film, wherein said surface of the petal is predisposed as a reflecting surface, designed to reflect and diffuse in all directions a beam of light incident on it when the petal is in the position at rest, and wherein a mirror in the form of a planar reflective layer is provided as a separate element both with respect to said petal and said substrate, said mirror being fixed over said substrate on the same side thereof as said petal, so as to receive and reflect said beam of light when the beam of light is not intercepted by the electrostatically controlled petal, that is when said petal is not in its position at rest, so that said device constitutes a micromirror that can be obscured by means of an electrostatically controlled microshutter.