Patent · US Expired

Transform lens with a plurality of sliced lens segments

US5189294A · kind A · utility

14Cited by
9References
16Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJul 8, 1992
Grant dateFeb 23, 1993
Priority date
Expiry dateJul 8, 2012

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG02B3/00
  • WIPO fieldOptics
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A sliced transform lens is used to combine and focus the optical output signals of a planar M by N laser diode array onto M detector elements in a linear detector by displacing lens slices. A sliced transform lens is used to separate the composite image of the laser diode array on the detector plane into ten spots (400 emitters per spot) by displacing the lens slices relative to each other collimated He-Ne laser beam was used to examine the sliced transform lens and the linear detector array was used to measure the image sizes and the crosstalks between the images. The results show the minimum separation is approximately five detector spacings apart. The lens elements are cut from a bulk material (BK-7) and ground to desired thickness and parallelism. Then the elements are "glued" together with standard optical wax compound and ground to the prescribed focal length. THe lens slices are cut before grinding, hence the composite lens is symmetric and zero-curf configuration is preserved. This relaxes the collimation requirement of the incoming light to some extent. The lens is then polished and ready for application.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.