Beam alignment detector

Abstract

A mechanism is provided for observing laser beam alignment with a start-of-scan detector chip, while the laser beam is being scanned in a horizontal direction. The start-of-scan detector is located on a target panel along with the input ends of a plurality of fiber-optic bundles. The input ends are in a vertical array with the input end in the center of the array being horizontally aligned with the detector chip whereby the scanned laser beam will strike both the chip and the center input end when the beam is aligned with the chip. If the beam is misaligned with the chip, the beam will strike one of the other input ends depending upon if the beam is too high or too low. The output ends of the fiber-optic bundles are arranged on an observation display panel to allow an observer to determine beam alignment or misalignment depending upon which output end is illuminated.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.