Ford Motor Company Limited

Ford Aerospace & Communications Corporation

Ford Aerospace Corporation

George W Stewart, Jr

Byron Edwards

The angle of divergence of a laser beam (29) is controlled without significant variation of beam power by using a movable corner cube (18) to vary the length of the optical path of a noncollimated beam (12) so as to present a beam of varying diameter to a telescope lens (26). In a second aspect of the invention, the beam is made insensitive to vibration of the corner cube (18) by covering a portion of its beam-receiving face with a second reflector (32) which causes the beam to make a second pass through the corner cube (18) in a parallel but opposite direction therey cancelling any beam displacement caused by the vibration of the corner cube (18).

Free expansion pseudo-zoom for laser projector

A beam projector which is controlled to alternately transmit rectangular cross-sectional beams substantially parallel to a projection axis, wherein the beams are respectively pulse modulated over a correspondingly distinct pulse rate frequency range to supply yaw and pitch information and are respectively scanned in a direction correspondingly orthogonal to the cross-sectional length of each beam. The size format of the beam cross-sections and the angles of scan are controlled according to a predetermined time variable function. In a first time period, the largest cross-sectional beams are alternately transmitted and the scan angle is decreased as a function of time, so that a fixed area of detectable information is available for detection with respect to an imaginary orthogonal reference plane moving along the projection axis at a rate corresponding to the predetermined time variable function. In subsequent time periods proportionately smaller cross-sectional beams are transmitted and the scan angle is continually controlled. The disclosed embodiment employs the use of a single set of proportionately different size formatted cross-sectional laser sources as a radiation generator, a scanning mechanism, a vibrationally modulated Pechan type prism and a fixed focus optical system to effect alternately transmitted beams, of selectable cross-section, orthogonally oriented and scanned with respect to each other.

Prismatic beam rotator for an optical beam projector

A beam projector which is controlled to alternately transmit rectangular cross-sectional beams substantially parallel to a projection axis, wherein the beams are respectively pulse modulated over a correspondingly distinct pulse rate frequency range to supply yaw and pitch information and are respectively scanned in a direction correspondingly orthogonal to its cross-sectional length. The size format of the beam cross-sections and the angle of the scan are controlled according to a predetermined time variable function. In a first time period, the largest cross-sectional beams are alternately transmitted and the scan angle is decreased as a function of time, so that a fixed area of detectable information is available for detection with respect to an imaginary orthogonal reference plane moving along the projection axis at a rate corresponding to the predetermined time variable function. In subsequent time periods proportionately smaller cross-sectional beams are transmitted and the scan angle is continually controlled. A first embodiment employs the use of a single set of proportionately different size formattec cross-sectional laser sources as a radiation generator, a scanning mechanism and a beam chopper fixed focus optical system to effect alternately transmitted beams, of selectable cross-section, orthogonally oriented and scanned with respect to each other. A second embodiment employs two corresponding sets of proportionately different size formatted cross-sectional laser sources, a scanning mechanism and a non-chopping fixed focus optical system to effect alternately transmitted beams of selectable cross-section, orthogonally oriented and scanned with respect to each other.

Growing community of inventors

Costa Mesa, CA, United States of America

George W Stewart, Jr