Beam splitter and laser marking apparatus
OwnerTakashi Nishimurainventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A beam splitter is configured by assembling three triangular prisms having bottom surfaces formed in shapes of right isosceles triangles A film is formed on side surfaces of the prisms that include the edges of each right isosceles triangle for separating incident light. With this construction, light striking the apex angle of the triangle is reflected as two beams and transmitted as one beam by the light separating surface. Hence, the light incident on the beam splitter is separated in three directions.
Claims58
A beam splitter for producing a plurality of separated beams from a single incident beam, comprising:
- a light transmissive member having a first surface and a second surface;
- a first light-separating portion formed on the first surface;
- and
- a second light-separating portion formed on the second surface.
A multibeam generator comprising:
- a light source generating a light beam;
- and
- a beam splitter receiving the light beam generated by the light source, including:
- a light transmissive member having a first surface and a second surface;
- a first light-separating portion formed on the first surface;
- and
- a second light-separating portion formed on the second surface.
A line-beam-generating optical system comprising:
- a light source generating a laser beam;
- a collimating lens converting light emitted from the light source into collimated light;
- a triangular prism having three side surfaces, a first side surface and a second side surface of the three side surfaces forming an apex angle, a first light-separating portion being formed on the first surface and a second light-separating portion being formed on the second surface, the triangular prism receiving the collimated light at the apex angle and separating the collimated light into four light beams;
- and
- a line-beam-generating optical element disposed on at least one optical path of the four light beams emitted from the triangular prism for converting at least one light beam into at least one line beam.
A laser marking apparatus comprising:
- a laser generating a light beam;
- a beam splitter receiving the light beam generated by the laser, including:
- a light transmissive member having a first surface and a second surface;
- a first light-separating portion formed on the first surface;
- and
- a second light-separating portion formed on the second surface;
- a line-beam-generating optical element generating a line beam from a light beam separated by at least one of the first and second light-separating portions;
- and
- a support unit supporting the laser, the beam splitter, and the line-beam-generating optical element.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.