Laser beam scanning apparatus and method
AssigneeAdvanced Laser Technologies, Inc.
InventorDonald C. Conemac
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A laser beam scanning apparatus employs a movable reflector having a large number of flat reflective sides and a deflector which shifts the laser beam at high speed across a plurality of the reflective sides. The movement of the reflector is synchronized with the deflection of the laser beam to produce a desired scan pattern in a first scan direction. The reflective sides of the movable reflector may be angled relative to each other in a second direction to produce different scan lines thereby providing an X-Y scan pattern. The combined high speed beam deflection and motion of the reflector provide scanning of the beam in parallel scan segments thereby providing high scanning speed of the beam with a high degree of resolution.
Claims20
A laser beam scanning apparatus, comprising:
- a reflector having a plurality of flat reflective surfaces configured at different angles;
- means for providing a laser beam along an optical path to the reflector;
- means for moving said reflector;
- means, configured in the optical path, for deflecting the laser beam in a high speed cyclical manner;
- and
- means for synchronizing said means for moving the reflector and said means for deflecting the laser beam so as to scan the reflected laser beam in a first direction.
A laser beam scanning apparatus comprising:
- a source of a laser beam;
- a polygon shaped reflector configured so as to intercept said laser beam, said reflector having a plurality of flat reflective sides optically separated by non-reflective spacings;
- and
- means, configured in an optical path between said source of a laser beam and said reflector, for shifting said laser beam across said reflector so as to successively traverse a plurality of said flat reflective sides.
A method for controlling the position of a laser beam comprising the steps of:
- providing a reflector having a plurality of flat sides so as to intercept said laser beam with one of said reflective sides, said reflective sides having normal directions to the reflective surface thereof which do not lie in a plane;
- moving said reflector so as to shift said reflective sides in a first direction;
- and
- shifting said laser beam in the direction of motion of said flat reflective sides.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.