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US 2004/0070820 A1Published application
Beam splitting unit, beam-emission-angle compensating optical unit, and laser marking apparatus
AssigneeHitachi Koki Co., Ltd.
InventorTakashi Nishimura
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A beam splitter is constructed from three light transmissive members formed of a glass or plastic that are bonded together to form a rectangular parallelepiped when taken as a whole. First and second light separating surfaces are formed at the bonding surfaces of the first and second light transmissive members and the bonding surfaces of the second and third light transmissive members, respectively. Accordingly, three light beams can easily be formed from a single beam of incident light.
Claims56
A beam splitting unit for obtaining a plurality of separated light beams from a single light beam, comprising:
- a plurality of light-separating portions, each light-separating portion separating incident light into transmitted light and reflected light;
- and
- a maintaining portion maintaining positional relationship among the plurality of light-separating portions into a predetermined positional relationship that allows the plurality of light-separating portions to cooperate to generate a plurality of separated light beams from a single light beam that originally falls incident on one of the plurality of light-separating portions.
A laser marking apparatus comprising:
- a laser generating a light beam;
- a beam splitting unit receiving the light beam generated by the laser and generating a plurality of separated light beams, the beam splitting unit including:
- a plurality of light-separating portions, each light-separating portion separating incident light into transmitted light and reflected light;
- and
- a maintaining portion maintaining positional relationship among the plurality of light-separating portions into a predetermined positional relationship that allows the plurality of light-separating portions to cooperate to generate a plurality of separated light beams from a single light beam that originally falls incident on one of the plurality of light-separating portions;
- a plurality of line-beam-generating optical elements, each line-beam-generating optical element generating a line beam from a corresponding one of the plurality of light beams generated by the beam splitting unit;
- and
- a support unit supporting the laser, the beam splitting unit, and the plurality of line-beam-generating optical elements.
5 more elements
A beam-emission-angle compensating optical unit for correcting a beam emission angle, comprising:
- an optical element formed of a light-transmissive member having a refractive index n, including:
- a light incident surface receiving an incident light beam in an incident beam direction which is defined with respect to a reference axis;
- and
- a light emitting surface emitting an output light beam in an output beam direction which is defined with respect to the reference axis, the light incident surface and the light emitting surface forming an angle α therebetween and defining an imaginary normal plane, which is orthogonal to both the light incident surface and the light emitting surface and which extends along the reference axis, the output beam direction being shifted by an angle δ from the incident beam direction, the angle α having a value that depends on the refractive index n, the angle α, and a rotational position of the imaginary normal plane relative to the reference axis.
1 more element
A beam-emnission-angle compensating optical unit for correcting a beam emission angle, comprising:
- an optical element formed of a light-transmissive member having a refractive index n, including:
- a light incident surface receiving an incident light beam in an incident beam direction which is defined with respect to a reference axis;
- and
- a light emitting surface emitting an output light beam in an output beam direction which is defined with respect to the reference axis, the light incident surface and the light emitting surface forming an angle α therebetween, the angle α having a value that depends on is the refractive index n.
1 more element
A beam-emission-angle compensating optical unit for correcting a beam emission angle, comprising:
- a wedge prism formed of a light-transmissive member and including:
- a first surface receiving an incident light beam;
- and
- a second surface emitting an output light beam, the first surface and the second surface forming an apex angle α;
- and
- a holding unit holding the wedge prism such that the wedge prism is capable of rotating about a reference axis, the holding unit holding the wedge prism at a rotational angle about the reference axis from a reference rotational position.
3 more elements
A laser marking apparatus comprising:
- a laser generating a light beam;
- a collimating optical element collimating the light beam into a collimated light beam;
- a beam-emission-angle compensating optical unit receiving the collimated light beam, as an incident light beam, and correcting a beam emission angle by outputting an output light beam, the beam-emission-angle compensating optical unit having:
- an optical element formed of a light-transmissive member having a refractive index n, including:
- a light incident surface receiving the incident light beam in an incident beam direction which is defined with respect to a reference axis;
- and
- a light emitting surface emitting the output light beam in an output beam direction which is defined with respect to the reference axis, the light incident surface and the light emitting surface forming an angle α therebetween and defining an imaginary normal plane, which is orthogonal to both the light incident surface and the light emitting surface and which extends along the reference axis, the output beam direction being shifted by an angle δ from the incident beam direction, the angle δ having a value that depends on the refractive index n, the angle α, and a rotational position of the imaginary normal plane relative to the reference axis;
- a line-beam-generating optical element generating a line beam from the output light beam from the beam-emission-angle compensating optical unit;
- and
- a support unit supporting the laser, the collimating optical element, the beam-emission-angle compensating optical unit, and the line-beam-generating optical element.
7 more elements
A beam splitter for obtaining a plurality of separated light beams from a single light beam, comprising:
- a light-transmissive member unit having three light-transmissive members, the three light-transmissive members are bonded with each other on two bonding surfaces, the two bonding surfaces including first and second bonding surfaces;
- a first light-separating layer formed on the first bonding surface within the light-transmissive member unit, the first light-separating layer separating incident light into reflected light and transmitted light, the first light-separating layer defining a first light-separating surface;
- a second light-separating layer formed on the second bonding surface within the light-transmissive member unit, the second light-separating layer separating either one of the transmitted light and the reflected light from the first light-separating layer into reflected light and transmitted light, the second light-separating layer defining a second light-separating surface parallel to the first light-separating surface, thereby obtaining three separated light beams from a single light beam.
A beam splitter for obtaining a plurality of separated light beams from a single light beam, comprising:
- a first light-transmissive member unit having a plurality of light-transmissive members, the plurality of light-transmissive members are bonded with each other on a plurality of bonding surfaces, the plurality of bonding surfaces including first, second, and third bonding surfaces;
- a second light-transmissive member unit disposed in contact with the first light-transmissive member unit, the second light-transmissive member unit having two light-transmissive members, the two light-transmissive members are bonded with each other on a fourth bonding surface;
- a third light-transmissive member unit disposed in contact with the first light-transmissive member unit, the third light-transmissive member unit having two light-transmissive members, the two light-transmissive members are bonded with each other on a fifth bonding surface;
- a first light-separating layer formed on the first bonding surface within the first light-transmissive member unit, the first light-separating layer separating incident light into reflected light and transmitted light, the first light-separating layer defining a first light-separating surface;
- a second light-separating layer formed on the second bonding surface within the first light-transmissive member unit, the second light-separating layer separating transmitted light from the first light-separating layer into reflected light and transmitted light, the second light-separating layer defining a second light-separating surface parallel to the first light-separating surface;
- a light-reflecting layer formed on the third bonding surface within the first light-transmissive member unit, the light-reflecting layer reflecting transmitted light from the second light-separating layer, the light-reflecting layer defining a light-reflecting surface parallel to the first light-separating surface;
- a third light-separating layer formed on the fourth bonding surface within the second light-transmissive member unit, the third light-separating layer separating reflected light from the first light-separating layer into transmitted light and reflected light, the third light-separating layer defining a third light-separating surface orthogonal to the first light-separating surface;
- and
- a fourth light-separating layer formed on the fifth bonding surface within the third light-transmissive member unit, the fourth light-separating layer separating reflected light from the light-reflecting layer into transmitted light and reflected light, the fourth light-separating layer defining a fourth light-separating surface parallel to the first light-separating surface,
- thereby obtaining five separated light beams from a single light beam.
7 more elements
A beam splitter for obtaining a plurality of separated light beams from a single light beam, comprising:
- a first light-transmissive member unit having a plurality of light-transmissive members, the plurality of light-transmissive members are bonded with each other on a plurality of bonding surfaces, the plurality of bonding surfaces including first and second bonding surfaces;
- a second light-transmissive member unit disposed in contact with the first light-transmissive member unit, the second light-transmissive member unit having two light-transmissive members, the two light-transmissive members are bonded with each other on a third bonding surface;
- a third light-transmissive member unit disposed in contact with the first light-transmissive member unit, the third light-transmissive member unit having two light-transmissive members, the two light-transmissive members are bonded with each other on a fourth bonding surface;
- a first light-separating layer formed on the first bonding surface within the first light-transmissive member unit, the first light-separating layer separating incident light into reflected light and transmitted light, the first light-separating layer defining a first light-separating surface;
- a light-reflecting layer formed on the second bonding surface within the first light-transmissive member unit, the light-reflecting layer reflecting transmitted light from the first light-separating layer, the light-reflecting layer defining a light-reflecting surface parallel to the first light-separating surface;
- a second light-separating layer formed on the third bonding surface within the second light-transmissive member unit, the second light-separating layer separating reflected light from the first light-separating layer into transmitted light and reflected light, the second light-separating layer defining a second light-separating surface orthogonal to the first light-separating surface;
- and
- a third light-separating layer formed on the fourth bonding surface within the third light-transmissive member unit, the third light-separating layer separating reflected light from the light-reflecting layer into transmitted light and reflected light, the third light-separating layer defining a third light-separating surface parallel to the first light-separating surface, thereby obtaining four separated light beams from a single light beam.
5 more elements
A beam splitting unit for obtaining a plurality of separated light beams from a single light beam, comprising:
- a first beam splitter formed with a first light-separating layer;
- a second beam splitter formed with a second light-separating layer;
- a holder main body mounted with the first beam splitter;
- and
- a movable holder mounted with the second beam splitter, the movable holder being movably mounted in the holder main body to maintain a positional relationship between the first and second light-separating layers into a predetermined positional relationship that allows the first and second light-separating layers to generate three separated light beams from the single light beam.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.