ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,352,988, issued on July 8, was assigned to APPLIED MATERIALS Inc. (Santa Clara, Calif.).

"Gradient encapsulation of waveguide gratings" was invented by David Sell (Santa Clara, Calif.) and Brian Alexander Cohen (Delmar, N.Y.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Gradient encapsulation of waveguide outcoupler gratings for control of diffraction efficiency and directionality includes a first grating formed over a substrate, the first grating having a plurality of first structures extending away from the substrate, the first grating corresponding to an outcoupler. The device includes a first encapsulant disposed in one or more gaps formed between a...