Patent · US Expired

Apparatus for beam splitting

US5883746A · kind A · utility

10Cited by
0References
34Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateMar 20, 1997
Grant dateMar 16, 1999
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 20, 2017

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG02B7/003
  • WIPO fieldOptics
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

An apparatus for splitting a light beam into two sub-beams is formed of a stationary light source for generating a light beam, of a first polarization converter and of a deflection unit rotating around the optical axis in which two sub-beams are generated from the light beam. The deflection unit contains a polarization beam splitter, a following, second polarization converter and a reflector that is preferably designed as a prism. An automatic correction of positional offsets of the sub-beams is implemented in the deflection unit since the polarization beam splitter or the deflection unit is tilted and/or the lenses are shifted with adjustment drives. The positional offsets of the sub-beams are measured in their focus plane, and corresponding correction values are transmitted with a transformer to the adjustment drives in the rotating deflection unit.

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