The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 15, 1986
Filed:
Sep. 30, 1982
Frederick R Faxvog, Plymouth, MN (US);
Hans W Mocker, Minneapolis, MN (US);
Honeywell Inc., Minneapolis, MN (US);
Abstract
Method and means are disclosed for rapidly tuning a laser over a large number of wavelengths. The means of the present invention includes first and second reflecting means which define the optical resonating cavity of a laser, and further includes a dispersive means adapted to sequentially select and direct one and only one of the wavelengths of light from the beam emitted by a laser's amplifying medium along a path back through the laser's amplifying medium as one of the reflecting means is continuously rotated. One embodiment of the present invention forms the rotating reflecting means as a faceted polygonal solid with at least one face thereof being a Littrow reflective grating. A pulsed laser is adapted to tune to a different wavelength of light each time some or all of the grating faces of the polygonal solid are rotated to intercept the longitudinal axis of the laser. A second embodiment forms the rotating reflecting means from a faceted polygonal solid but reflects laser light from the rotating reflected means to a single stationary Littrow grating. A third embodiment provides means and method of producing pairs of output pulses where the pair members are separated by a short time interval.