Optical cavity system having an orthogonal input

Abstract

An optical system having a closed loop light path with a source for providing light in a direction parallel to the normal of an input to the light path. The light may be provided via a diffracting mechanism to the input. The system may be a cavity ring-down sensor or some other optical device. The light path may be formed in a laser gyroscope type cavity. A light source may have a beam aligned to a spot, indicator or mark near the input of the cavity. The location of the spot, indicator or mark may be determined in accordance with parameters of the diffracting mechanism and/or cavity. A fixture for holding the light source may be secured so that placement of the source in the fixture will automatically result in an aligned light source. Then the diffracting mechanism may be inserted to further complete fabrication of the optical system.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.