Low background flux telescope with integrated baffle
US7926961B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Nov 20, 2008 |
| Grant date | Apr 19, 2011 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 19, 2029 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG02B27/0018
- WIPO fieldOptics
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A telescope design is disclosed that has at least some of its interior facing surfaces configured with corner reflectors, so that a detector operatively coupled to the telescope views itself, instead of those surfaces. The corner reflectors may be on, for example, interior facing surfaces of a conventional baffle appended to the telescope and/or mirror supports or other structures inside the telescope housing that are within the detector's FOV. Likewise, the corner reflectors may be on interior facing surfaces of a baffle that is integrated into the telescope housing. In some such cases, the integrated baffle can be configured as both a baffle and a mirror support. The integrated baffle can be shaped to the F-cone between mirrors of a given telescope design, and/or configured to minimize or otherwise reduce the total obscuration of the baffle to improve the optical throughput.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.