Universally infinitely tunable photon filter

摘要

Previous light filters are in principle based on absorption, interference, polarisation, or dispersion, that is to say the radiation to be filtered is transported through an optically dense medium. Using conventional technology, the selectivity cannot be infinitely varied. The invention presented here intends to remedy this in that the light is transported through channels, that is to say an optically thin medium. It is based on the recognition in physics that electromagnetic waves cannot pass waveguides whose diameter is smaller than half the wavelength. When light is made to pass through a medium of flexible or elastic material, provided with corresponding channels, the diameter of the channels can be reduced or increased through electrical, magnetic or mechanical influence on the material. Depending on the choice of initial diameter, electromagnetic radiation whose wavelength is larger than twice the diameter of the channel can be filtered out or switched. When using a static material which has predetermined channel diameters, arranged in a suitable, natural manner, the channel width can be varied by moving (e.g. rotating) the filter.