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:
May. 24, 2005
Filed:
Apr. 18, 2002
Eric S. Johnstone, Redwood City, CA (US);
John J. Bockman, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Alan B. Ray, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Kerry Bagw Ell, Campbell, CA (US);
Eric S. Johnstone, Redwood City, CA (US);
John J. Bockman, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Alan B. Ray, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Kerry Bagw ell, Campbell, CA (US);
Agilent Technologies, Inc., Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
An interferometer returns parallel beams that are subject to walk-off caused by reflector misalignment for an additional pass through the interferometer optics and thereby eliminates beam walk-off. A return reflector can be a plane mirror that directs returning beams to retrace paths through the interferometer optics to combine and exit along the axis of the input beam. Separation optics can separate the combined beam from the input beam. Alternatively, a return reflector such as an isosceles prism or a trapezoidal prism reflects and offsets returning beams so that the combined beam is offset from the input beam. The return reflector more generally responds to a shift in incident beam position with a matching shift of the reflected beam in contrast to a retroreflector, which shifts a reflected beam in a direction opposite to the shift in the incident beam.