Facebook, Inc.

Meta Platforms, Inc.

Harvard Keese Harding, Jr

Eric Douglas Miller

Kevin Michael Birnbaum

Chien-Chung Chen

Eric Booen

Chiyun Xia

Matthew Thomas Hunwardsen

Slaven Moro

Ferze Daligues Patawaran

The disclosed optical beam expander may include (1) a monolithic structure including (a) a first nonplanar mirror that receives a first collimated optical beam having a first width and reflects the first collimated optical beam to generate a noncollimated optical beam and (b) a second nonplanar mirror that receives a diverging optical beam and reflects the diverging optical beam to generate a second collimated optical beam having a second width greater than the first width, where the first nonplanar mirror and the second nonplanar mirror are fixed in orientation and position relative to each other and (2) a planar mirror that reflects the noncollimated optical beam from the first nonplanar mirror to provide the diverging optical beam to the second nonplanar mirror. Various other devices, systems, and methods are also disclosed.

Optical beam expander with partial monolithic structure

An optical transceiver for controlling a steering angle between a receive light beam and a transmit light beam includes an optical beam coupling device. The optical beam coupling device comprises a plurality of optical elements configured to control a steering angle between the receive light beam received by the optical beam coupling device along a first line of sight (LOS) and the transmit light beam that is output from the optical beam coupling device along a second LOS different from the first LOS, wherein both the receive light beam and the transmit light beam pass through the plurality of optical elements. The plurality of optical elements have a set of combinations for different positions of each of the optical elements, wherein each position in the set of combinations induces a different steering angle between the transmit light beam and the receive light beam.

Optical transceiver for controlling steering angle between receive light beam and transmit light beam

The disclosed system may include (1) an optical element that receives an optical beam, (2) a wide field-of-view (FOV) quadrant photodetector that receives, from the optical element, first light originating from the optical beam, (3) a narrow FOV quadrant photodetector that receives, from the optical element, second light originating from the optical beam, and (4) a controller that controls an orientation of the optical element during at least a period of time based on a weighted combination of (a) output of the wide FOV quadrant photodetector in response to the first light, and (b) output of the narrow FOV quadrant photodetector in response to the second light. Various other systems, methods, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.

Systems and methods for weighted combination of quadrant photodetector output for beam tracking

An optical tracking system for use in a free space optical communication system is described. The system includes a birefringent lens that is positioned to receive incident light and to produce light with a first and a second polarization. The system also includes a focusing lens positioned to receive the light with the first and the second polarizations and to direct the light with the first polarization to a first focal location along the optical axis and the light with the second polarization to a second focal location along the optical axis. A quadrature detector that is positioned between the first focal location and the second focal location receives the light with both the first and the second polarizations, and produces an output that is indicative of an alignment of the optical system.

Growing community of inventors

Simi Valley, CA, United States of America

Harvard Keese Harding, Jr