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US 4,054,367 AGranted
Process and apparatus for high resolution non-mechanical deflection of light beams
AssigneeSiemens Aktiengesellschaft
InventorsHans Eschler, Gerd Goldmann
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AssigneeSiemens Aktiengesellschaft
InventorsHans Eschler, Gerd Goldmann
Estimating the term…
A process and apparatus for non-mechanically deflecting of a light beam with high resolution characterized by passing a linearly polarized beam through at least one electro-optical deflector and preferably two to obtain four possible beam directions, passing the four beam directions through a multicomponent deflector of prisms which direct each of the four beam directions to a given point on an acousto-optical light deflector which is a two-dimensional acousto-optical light deflector that deflects the beam into two-dimensional arrays on a screen or storage medium, with each one of the four beam directions causing the two-dimensional arrays to be disposed in a different quadrant of the screen or medium. Preferably, the beams leaving the acousto-optic deflector are passed through a four component polarizing filter which prevents undesired overlap between the zero order undeflected portion of the beam and the first orders. In one embodiment, at least one of the electro-optical deflectors which comprises a polarization switch or rotator and a polarization dividing filter which is a birefringement discriminator, such as a Wollaston prism or a Nicols prism is separated with the polarization switch disposed ahead of the acousto-optical deflector and the polarization dividing filter receiving the deflected beams from the acousto-optical device.
A method of non-mechanical deflecting of a beam of light with high resolution by means of a two-dimensional analogue acousto-optical deflector and at least one digital electro-optical deflector and particularly adapted for use in optical printers and optical storage systems, said method comprising directing a linearly polarized beam of light through at least one electro-optical light deflector, selectively operating the electro-optical light deflectors to deflect the beam in one of a plurality of selected directions, directing the beam at an acousto-optical light deflector, and selectively operating the acousto-optical light deflector to further deflect the beam into a two-dimensional array of beam directions.
A method of non-mechanical deflecting of a beam of light with high resolution by means of an analogue acousto-optical deflector and at least two digital electro-optical deflectors and particularly adapted for use in optical printers and optical storage systems, said method comprising directing a linearly polarized beam of light through two electro-optical light deflectors in series with the second deflector deflecting the beam in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the first deflector so that four directions may be obtained, selectively operating each of the electro-optical light deflectors to deflect the beam into one of the four selected directions, directing the beam at an acousto-optical light deflector by passing the beam through a prism of a four prism component so that each beam is directed to the same spot on the acousto-optical light deflector, and selectively operating the acousto-optical light deflector to further deflect the beam.
A device for non-mechanically deflecting a beam of light with high resolution which device is particularly useful in optical printers and optical storage systems, said device comprising at least one electro-optical light deflector, a multi-component deflector means, and an acousto-optical light deflector, said electro-optical light deflector being positioned to receive a linearly polarized beam of light, said multi-component deflector means being arranged to receive each of the deflected light beams from the electro-optical light deflector and to direct each of the beams at a point on the acousto-optical light deflector so that the position of the beams produced by the acousto-optical deflector depends on the beam position produced by the electro-optical light deflector.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.