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:
Jan. 04, 2011
Filed:
Apr. 28, 2008
James Prince, San Jose, CA (US);
James Prince, San Jose, CA (US);
Agilent Technologies, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A Littrow encoder is disclosed. The encoder includes first and second interferometers and a beam splitter assembly that splits a first instrument light beam into first and second interferometer input beams and directs these beams into the first and second interferometers, respectively. Each interferometer generates a measurement beam and a reference beam and directs the measurement beam toward a grating on a surface from which the measurement beam is diffracted, the measurement beam from the first interferometer striking the surface at a Littrow angle that is the negative of the angle at which the measurement beam from the second interferometers strikes that surface. Each interferometer includes at least one intensity detector that generates a signal related to an intensity of light in a combined light beam that includes the reference and measurement beams from that interferometer.