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:
Dec. 06, 1988
Filed:
Feb. 24, 1987
Ronald J Michal, Orange, CA (US);
Eric Udd, Huntington Beach, CA (US);
Richard F Cahill, El Toro, CA (US);
McDonnell Douglas Corporation, Long Beach, CA (US);
Abstract
There is provided by this invention an optical sensing system utilizing a Sagnac interferometer having a frequency shifter within the Sagnac counterpropagating loop that is generally comprised of a plurality of acoustic transducers mounted on acousto-optical material to frequency shift and beamsplit a light beam simultaneously within the material while at the same time having the capability of switching between an upshifted or downshifted frequency in either a Bragg or Raman-Nath mode of operation without realigning the optical beams. The acousto-optical material has a special configuration to eliminate back reflections of the acoustic waves that can interact with the light beam. In addition, special alignment of the transducers with dampening configurations also serves to prevent back reflections of the acoustic wave from interacting with the light beam.