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:
Mar. 05, 2002
Filed:
Jun. 13, 2000
Alan B. Marchant, Fairport, NY (US);
Eugene G. Olczak, Rochester, NY (US);
Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, NY (US);
Abstract
Apparatus for collimating multiple laser beams from a Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL) array and directing the collimated beams through a common aperture includes a VCSEL array including at least two VCSEL sources disposed in a spatial pattern and each VCSEL source emitting a divergent laser beam; a microlens array with lenslet elements disposed in a spatial pattern geometrically similar to the pattern of sources on the VCSEL array, said lenslet pattern being scaled to a smaller dimension than the VCSEL source pattern and arranged to receive the divergent laser beams; and the microlens array being arranged so that the lenslet surface of the microlens array is maintained at a distance from the VCSEL array substantially equal to the focal length of the lenslets to substantially collimate the beams and also being maintained in a lateral orientation so that each beam passes through a corresponding microlens in the microlens array causing the laser beam from each VCSEL source to be directed through a common aperture.