Patent ID: 8655189

Claim:
An optical modulation system comprising: a metamaterial structure configured to receive and process an input optical signal at an operational wavelength, wherein the metamaterial structure changes between a transmissive state and a non-transmissive state with respect to the optical signal at the operational wavelength in response to an external stimulus applied to the metamaterial structure, and the metamaterial structure comprises a first layer comprising a thermochromic material and a second layer comprising metal particles, the second layer of particles comprising at least one of gold, platinum, palladium, silver, copper and aluminum; and an external stimulus source that is coupled with the metamaterial structure and is configured to change the metamaterial structure between its transmissive and non-transmissive states by applying selected stimulus pulses to the metamaterial structure; wherein the optical modulation system processes the input optical signal to output a modulated optical signal that modulates in correspondence with the selected pulses applied to the metamaterial structure.