Patent ID: 7459834

Claim:
A solid state gimbal system comprising: (a) a gimbal housing including a hemispherical cap and an annular cap, said hemispherical cap and said annular cap forming a spherically shaped cavity when attached, said hemispherical cap and said annular cap having at least two channels disposed along the interiors thereof; (b) a rotatable sphere having a radius less than said spherically shaped cavity; and (c) at least two shear mode curvilinear actuators, each said shear mode curvilinear actuator including a piezoelectric layer disposed between two electrodes, one said shear mode curvilinear actuator disposed within each said channel, said shear mode curvilinear actuator disposed between and compressed by said gimbal housing and said rotatable sphere, said shear mode curvilinear actuators rotating said rotatable sphere with respect to said gimbal housing when at least one said shear mode curvilinear actuator is electrically activated.