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. 14, 1993
Filed:
Feb. 19, 1991
James J Snyder, San Jose, CA (US);
Blue Sky Research, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
A parallel plate lateral shearing interferometer allows the shearing plate to oscillate through a small angle periodically causing the interference fringe pattern to translate on a display surface providing an indication of the direction of adjustment required to collimate a beam. At the point of exact collimation the interference pattern changes abrubtly to a blinking pattern of dark and light. In one embodiment the shearing plate is oscillated by a new kind of electronic translator that functions by thermal expansion and contraction, and in another embodiment the shearing plate moves as a pendulum. An alternative embodiment of the translator is also provided for non-oscillatory precision translations.