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:
Apr. 27, 1999
Filed:
Oct. 28, 1997
Christopher J Manning, Moscow, ID (US);
Other;
Abstract
A novel variation of Michelson's interferometer uses tilt- and shear-compensation optics to allow various mirror motions to produce variation of path difference. The tilt-compensation mechanism consists of two complementary reflections from a single plane mirror to produce a beam having a constant angle of propagation, typically the same as the input beam. Using a retroreflector to invert the image of the single plane mirror before the second reflection produces the complementary reflections. A particularly efficient embodiment of the present invention uses a balanced disk-shaped mirror to effect very rapid variation of path difference by nutation or precession. Other advantages of tilt-compensation include photometric stability. This interferometer has applications in spectrometry, spectral imaging and metrology.