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:
Aug. 29, 1989
Filed:
Apr. 27, 1987
David Fink, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Hughes Aircraft Company, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Abstract
A first embodiment includes a set of diffraction gratings on the face of a wheel, each grating being set at an angle to select a different spectral line. The wheel is rotated, and as each grating moves into the end-reflector position of the laser's optical path, the laser is fired. Alternate embodiments include a small spinning fold mirror that reflects the beam in a circle about the axis of the laser. Such embodiments include (a) a circular array of diffraction gratings arranged about the laser axis such that the tilt of the gratings and the orientation of the grooves vary as one goes around the circle and successively fires the laser at each grating; (b) both a circular array of mirrors and a corresponding array of diffraction gratings such that the grooves of all of the gratings are parallel and the gratings are all tilted in the same direction; and (c) two spinning fold mirrors and two circular arrays of mirrors giving a double fold plus a single diffraction grating wherein the optical paths are not parallel but arrive at the grating at different angles for selecting different spectral lines.