Patent · US Expired

Optical shutter, spectrometer and method for spectral analysis

US6191860A · kind A · utility

119Cited by
6References
33Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateAug 6, 1999
Grant dateFeb 20, 2001
Priority date
Expiry dateAug 6, 2019

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG01J3/0232
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

An attenuating optical shutter for high speed spectral analysis of an optical radiation band so as to derive N wavelength-dependent portions thereof. The attenuating optical shutter incorporates an optical shutter body including N shutter segments, each selectably switchable between a first substantially transparent and a second substantially opaque optical state, and a multi-zone attenuator comprising N optical attenuating zones each having a different predetermined wavelength-dependent attenuation characteristic. Each of the shutter segments is optically interconnected with a respective one of the N optical attenuating zones of the multi-zone attenuator thus forming N respective cells of the attenuating optical shutter. Such an attenuating optical shutter finds particular application in a spectrometer. A method for determining the spectral function of a sample using the attenuating optical shutter is also described.

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