Patent · US Expired

Illumination optical apparatus

US5713660A · kind A · utility

8Cited by
7References
10Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateNov 4, 1994
Grant dateFeb 3, 1998
Priority date
Expiry dateNov 4, 2014

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG02B19/0047
  • WIPO fieldOptics
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

An illumination optical apparatus according to the present invention comprises a light source, a collector mirror having an ellipsoidal surface of revolution for reflecting and collecting light from the light source, a collimator lens for converting the light collected by the collector mirror into nearly parallel beams, an optical integrator for producing a plurality of light source images from the beams outgoing from the collimator lens, and a condenser lens for condensing light from the plurality of light source images to illuminate a body to be illuminated in a superimposed manner. Wherein the collimator lens is arranged to satisfy the following condition, R.sub.max <f.sub.col .multidot.sin u.sub.max ; where f.sub.col is a focal length of the condenser lens, u.sub.max a maximum angle of incidence of the light incident into the collimator lens, and R.sub.max a maximum beam radius of the nearly parallel beams collimated by the collimator lens.

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