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. 27, 2000
Filed:
Feb. 18, 1998
Applicant:
Inventor:
Michael J Steinle, Fort Collins, CO (US);
Assignee:
Hewlett-Packard Company, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G02B / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
250216 ; 359497 ; 359500 ; 250225 ;
Abstract
An optical system that folds a light path multiple times with all the folded paths being coplanar. The light is first polarized. Then, the polarized light is reflected multiple times through a quarter-wave plate, finally being phase shifted to the proper polarization state to enable transmission out of the system. One optical element transmits light that is at one planar polarity and reflects light at the orthogonal planar polarity. Another optical element transmits light that is at one circular polarity and reflects light at the orthogonal circular polarity.