Patent ID: 7173751

Claim:
An open hole-based diffractive light modulator, comprising: a substrate; a first micromirror layer disposed on a portion of a surface of the substrate and adapted to diffract incident light by reflecting the incident light; a second ribbon-shaped micromirror layer which is spaced apart at a center portion thereof from the first micromirror layer, and is attached at both sides thereof to the substrate, with a plurality of open holes formed on the center portion spaced apart from the first micromirror layer, so that the second micromirror layer reflects or diffracts incident light depending on the distance between the second and first micromirror layers; and an actuating unit for moving the center portion of the second micromirror layer in which the open holes are formed away from the first micromirror layer, wherein the actuating unit comprises a piezoelectric layer which is positioned at a location other than the location of the center portion of the second micromirror layer, said piezoelectric layer operable to shrink and expand so as to provide an actuating force on the second micromirror layer in a direction away from the first micromirror layer when voltage is applied to opposite sides of the piezoelectric layer.