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. 13, 1994
Filed:
Nov. 09, 1990
Graham Martin, Woodland Hills, CA (US);
Salim Jabr, Mountain View, CA (US);
Litton Systems, Inc., Woodland Hills, CA (US);
Abstract
Method and apparatus for reducing rotational bias error in a ring laser. The method includes the steps of varying a portion of an optical path for laser beams that emerge from a ring laser cavity along divergent paths and are subsequently combined along a common path to a detector. The apparatus of one embodiment includes a movable mirror positioned to intercept the laser beams emerging from the ring laser cavity before combination along a common path. The movable mirror may be piezo-electric transducive elements configured to bend on application of a voltage. The piezo-electric elements are provided with a reflective region that is positioned to redirect the laser beams from the ring laser back to an output coupling mirror so that re-reflection from the output mirror redirects the laser beams back into a beam combining optical element. In an alternative embodiment the detector is periodically displaced along an access parallel to the common path of the laser beam. In this embodiment piezo-electric elements are disposed between the beam combining optic and the detector to periodically displace the detector.