Claims
- 1. A method of forming a non-polarizing region in a polarizing glass comprising the steps of:a) providing a glass having a polarizing layer, said polarizing layer comprising elongated particles; and, b) selectively subjecting a region of said polarizing layer to a thermal heating treatment to respheroidize said elongated particles in said region and thereby render said glass in said region non-polarizing.
- 2. The method of claim 1, wherein said elongated particles are selected from the group consisting of AgClxBr1−x, CuClxBr1−x, where x has a value between 0 and 1, Pb-borate, AgI, CuI and Cu/Cd halides.
- 3. The method of claim 1, wherein said thermal heating is conducted at a temperature of at least 450° C.
- 4. The method of claim 3, wherein said thermal heating is conducted at a temperature of at least 500° C.
- 5. The method of claim 1, wherein said thermal heating is achieved by contacting said region with a heating source selected from the group consisting of a laser, electron beam, and ion beam.
- 6. A glass having a pattern of polarizing and non-polarizing regions formed according to the process of claim 1.
CROSS-REFERENCED APPLICATIONS
The present application is a divisional application of U.S. Ser. No. 09/142,962 filed on May 21, 1999, which is now U.S. Pat. No. 6,171,762, granted Jan. 9, 2001, by Nicholas F. Borrelli, Chad B. Moore and Paul A. Sachenik, which, is a 317 of PCT/US97/04870 filed Mar. 25, 1997, which in turn, claims priority of the Provisional Application Serial No. 60/014,619 filed on Mar. 28, 1996.
US Referenced Citations (21)
Foreign Referenced Citations (2)
Number |
Date |
Country |
0 909 744 |
Sep 1998 |
EP |
11-194218 |
Jul 1999 |
JP |
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60/014619 |
Mar 1996 |
US |