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:
Jun. 17, 1997
Filed:
Jul. 02, 1996
Joseph A Wheeler, Vernon, CT (US);
David R Fournier, Groton, MA (US);
Ronald J Straayer, South Windsor, CT (US);
Gerber Systems Corporation, South Windsor, CT (US);
Abstract
An optical beam generator system for use in an imaging system that forms an image in a substrate comprises a beam generator, a mode filter and a state selector. The optical beam has a first power level above an exposure level that exposes the image in the substrate and a second power level below the exposure level which does not expose the substrate. The beam generator generates a near single mode coherent optical beam in response to received command signals corresponding to an 'on' state and generates a multimode incoherent optical beam in response to received command signals corresponding to an 'off' state. The filter is optically coupled to the beam generator and attenuates an optical component of the received optical beam which is not single mode to a magnitude below the exposure level. The state selector generates the 'on' and 'off' command signals corresponding to the 'on' and 'off' states such that the filter outputs the coherent optical beam with minimal attenuation during the 'on' state and with maximum attenuation during the 'off' state.