Sparse aperture optical alignment methods
AssigneeRaytheon Company
InventorsNicholas D. Trail, David J. Markason
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for configuring an alignment of a plurality of optical segments in a sparse aperture configuration of an optical device includes providing at least one beam of light from at least one light source located on the sparse aperture optical device, directing the at least one beam of light toward at least one segment of the plurality of optical segments, detecting a reflection or transmission of the at least one beam of light off of the at least one segment of the plurality of optical segments, determining a characteristic of the reflected or transmitted light, and based on the characteristic of the reflected or transmitted light, determining an alignment of the at least one segment of the plurality of optical segments.
Claims15
A method for configuring an alignment of a plurality of optical segments in a sparse aperture configuration in a sparse aperture optical device, the method comprising:
- providing at least one beam of light from at least one active optical source located on the sparse aperture optical device;
- directing the at least one beam of light toward at least one optical segment of the plurality of optical segments;
- detecting a reflection of the at least one beam of light from the at least one optical segment of the plurality of optical segments;
- determining a characteristic of the reflection of the at least one beam of light;
- and
- based on the characteristic of the reflection, determining an alignment of the at least one optical segment of the plurality of optical segments to another optical segment of the plurality of optical segments.
The method of claim of 12, further comprising:
- adjusting a position of the second optical segment;
- determining a change in the interference patterns of the reflection;
- and
- based on the change in the interference patterns, determining whether the alignment of the second optical segment matches a predetermined alignment.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.