Patent ID: 7382517

Claim:
A hybrid light modulator, comprising: (a) a substrate; (b) a light modulating unit mounted on the substrate, comprising: an elongate ribbon structure supported on the substrate, said elongate ribbon structure defining an intermediate portion spaced apart from the substrate; a plurality of protrusions disposed on the elongate ribbon structure and extending in a direction away from the substrate, said protrusions spaced apart from each other; at least one depression adjacent each protrusion; and wherein the protrusions and the adjacent depressions each having a seperate reflective surface to reflect incident light, so that diffractive light is formed by light reflected by a protrusion and by light reflected by a depression adjacent said protrusion; and (c) an actuating unit to move the intermediate portion of the light modulating unit spaced apart from the substrate towards or away from the substrate thereby also moving the plurality of protrusions and the plurality of adjacent depressions toward or away from the substrate, so that an angle of the light defined by the plurality of protrusions and the plurality of adjacent depressions varies.