New Focus, Inc.

International Business Machines Corporation

Ocutech, Inc.

Francis S Luecke

David F Arnone

LeRoy D Dickson

Holger J Baasch

Ronald L Soderstrom

Alexander V Tuganov

Kurt Edward Petersen

James M Zavislan

Timothy Roy Block

Douglas S Goodman

Paul E Cade

Karl A Shidler

Jaroslaw Pekar

Henry A Greene

Eberhard A Spiller

Robert L MacDonald

Norman T Gonnella

Albert S Bergendahl

Bruce A Moore

David M Rines

Mark R Enstrom

Kenneth W Wallace

An optical system is capable of enhancing vision of low vision individuals using a simple adjustment mechanism that requires a minimum length of travel to effect a desired adjustment. First and second substantially perpendicular mirrors are mounted in a cluster for pivotable movement. An entrance mirror is pivoted in response to pivoting movement of the mirror cluster so as to ensure proper convergence when the object to be viewed is close to the objective lens or lenses in a binocular system. The system also includes an objective lens and an eyepiece lens and is readily mounted to a conventional eyeglasses frame.

Vision enhancing optical system

Disclosed are both a housing and an assembly for a tunable external cavity laser. The housing includes: a base section, a motion section, and an actuator. The base section includes a proximal and distal portion, and the laser and the dispersive element mounted at respectively the proximal and distal portions such that energy emanating from the laser strikes the dispersive element leaving the dispersive element as a second beam at an angle with respect to the first beam which depends on wavelength. The motion section includes a proximal and a distal portion and a torsional member positioned at the proximal portion and the reflector positioned at the distal portion to reflect the second beam to the laser via the dispersive element, and the motion section supported by the base about the torsional member. The actuator is in selectively engagable abutment against the distal portion of the motion section to move the reflector with respect to the dispersive element about the torsional member to tune the external cavity laser.

External cavity laser pivot design

Universal chuck for holding of irregular or regular shaped parts for machine processing such as milling, shaping, grinding and the like. Movable and fixed platens have grid-like patterns including protrusions and spaces into which gripping jaw members, having a configured bottom surface, align and secure. A robotic tool provides for selection and transfer of jaw members from a jaw storage fixture and for securing of the jaw members to the movable and fixed platens.

Universal chuck and automated machining system

Optical system mounting device having a tilting optical element holder which may be positioned in or out of a laser beam path. A pivot system of pivot balls adjustably located between a mirror holding element and a base provide a pivotal axis for the mirror holding element.

Flip-type mirror mount

Rotary beamsplitter prism mount providing individually adjustable rotation about three axes where adjustment about one axis does not significantly affect the remaining axis with respect to beam emergence.

Rotary beamsplitter prism mount

A holographic optical system includes volume hologram configurations providing a waveplate for, e.g. an optical storage device, and an aliasing suppression filter. The waveplate has diffraction characteristics adapted to impart a propagation delay for selected polarization directions. By controlling the propagation delay and the angle of an incident light beam, an output beam having altered polarization characteristics can be produced. Quarter waveplates for reflective optical storage systems and half waveplates for magneto-optical storage systems are disclosed. The holographic aliasing suppression filter divides an input optical beam into spatially separated components and may be configured to be polarization insensitive or color selective.

Holographic optical system including waveplate and aliasing suppression

This invention relates to electromechanical actuators, and particularly to actuators utilizing magnetostrictive elements to rotate positioning shafts associated with optical elements.

Magnetostrictive actuator for optical alignment screws

An adjustable optical element mount having a pair of ball elements, respectively attached to a base and optical element, within a pair of sockets positioned at opposite ends of a spindle which supports a screw actuated cam element positioned within the spindle and between a pair of plungers which simultaneously engage and clamp the both ball elements against the sockets in response to rotation of the screw to hold the ball elements in a desired position.

Universal optical mount

A piezoelectric actuator for rotating a shaft associated with an optical mount positioning system in which the actuator moves in first direction at a slow enough velocity to maintain engagement between the actuator and shaft to drive the shaft in the desired direction, and the actuator moves in a second direction at a sufficiently high acceleration and velocity to cause the actuator to lose engagement with the shaft and slip, thereby achieving motion of the shaft in only the desired direction.

Piezoelectric actuator for optical alignment screws

A precision component mounting and positioning apparatus comprises a frame member and a stage member suspended in the frame member. The frame member is adapted to be mounted on a support surface, and the stage member is adapted to receive a precision component, typically a precision optical component such as an optical fiber or waveguide. The stage member can be positionally adjusted relative to the frame member in five degrees of freedom. Three axially oriented actuators are grounded in the frame member to provide for selectively rotating the stage member about two orthogonally disposed transverse axes relative to the frame member as well as for axially translating the stage member relative to the frame member. A pair of orthogonally opposed transverse actuators are grounded in the frame member and oriented to provide for transverse translation of the stage member relative to the frame member.

Precision component positioner

This invention relates to electromechanical actuators, and particularly to actuators utilizing piezoelectric elements to rotate positioning shafts associated with optical elements.

Piezoelectric actuator for optical alignment screws cross references to

A tunable external cavity semiconductor laser is provided with a semiconductor laser diode, a diffraction grating and a movable mirror. The diode laser is positioned to illuminate a diffraction grating and a movable mirror is positioned to reflect a selected wavelength back into the cavity. The mirror is mounted on a pivot so positioned to provide simultaneous rotation and linear translation. The pivot point is selected so as to provide an internal cavity length which is exactly an integral number of half wavelengths at three different wavelengths and an exceptionally close (within 1/1000 of one wavelength) match at all other wavelengths within the tuning range. Significantly, the pivot point calculation takes into account the effect of the dispersion of the laser and other optical elements in the system on the cavity length. These elements are usually a small part of the physical length of the cavity, but their greater dispersion makes their contribution to the number of half wavelengths in the resonant cavity very significant.

Tuning system for external cavity diode laser

A micropositioner has a platform supported on balls positioned by inclined planes machined on plungers. The plungers are adjustable in horizontal bores in a frame which has a vertical portion with adjusting screws for horizontal positioning of the platform and rotation about a vertical axis. The micropositioner provides four degrees of freedom with four adjustable screws in one embodiment, five degrees of freedom in an alternative embodiment, and six degrees of freedom in yet another embodiment.

Precision micropositioner

An optical focus actuator for a data storage system having an adjustable optical lens includes support member having top and bottom surfaces and a central throughbore extending between the top and bottom surfaces, an elongated movable lens support bobbin disposed in the throughbore, an electromagnetic actuator disposed between the support member and the movable lens support bobbin for moving the lens for adjustment thereof, and a wire support comprising a plurality of upper wire loops extending in opposed directions and looped about an upper end of the movable support bobbin and a plurality of lower loops extending in opposed directions and looped about a lower end of the movable support bobbin, the loops being supported at both ends by said support member.

Growing community of inventors

San Jose, CA, United States of America

Francis S Luecke