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:
Sep. 26, 2000
Filed:
Aug. 18, 1998
Stephen C Weibel, Madison, WI (US);
Other;
Abstract
A Michelson interferometer includes a beamsplitter onto which an input light beam is directed. The beamsplitter divides the input light beam into a first beam portion incident upon a first fixed reflector and a second beam portion incident upon a movable retroreflector. The movable retroreflector reflects the second beam onto another fixed reflector and then back to the beamsplitter where the first and second beams are combined and directed to a detector. The movable retroreflector is attached to one end of a rotating arm moving at a constant angular velocity. The retroreflector reflects the second beam at a fixed location in its orbital path. The angular velocity of the retroreflector and rotating arm combination may be varied over a wide range to provide a large modulated frequency bandwidth. The operating duty cycle of the interferometer may be doubled by attaching a second retroreflector to the other end of the rotating arm, with the weights of the two retroreflectors counterbalancing each other. The interferometer's optical alignment is insensitive to angular tilt and lateral shear (horizontal and vertical translation) of the interferometer's scanning element.