Forming beamformer having stacked monolithic beamsplitters
First Claim
1. A beamformer assembly for forming beams of light, the beamformer assembly comprising plural beamformers, the plural beamformers including first and second beamformers, the second beamformer being optically coupled to the first beamformer so that a first beamformer, each of the first and second beamformers including:
- a stack of prisms, each of the prisms being monolithic and having orthogonal faces and at least one oblique face oblique to the orthogonal faces, each prism being adjacent to at least one other prism in the stack; and
reflective layers, each reflective layer being disposed between oblique faces of adjacent prisms, each pair of adjacent prisms having a respective reflective layer disposed therebetween, the reflective layers having different reflectivities,the reflective layers of the first beamformer being characterized by a first beamsplitting angle, the reflective layers of the second beamformer being characterized by a second beamsplitting angle different from the first beamsplitting angle;
the first beamformer outputting a second portion of the light input to the first beamformer in a first direction that is, at least in part, a function of the first beamsplitting angle, the second beamformer outputting light received from the first beamformer in a second direction that is different from the first direction and, at least in part, is based on the second beamsplitting angle.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Beamformers are formed (e.g., carved) from a stack of transparent sheets. A rear face of each sheet has a reflective coating. The reflectivities of the coatings vary monotonically with sheet position within the stack. The sheets are tilted relative to the intended direction of an input beam and then bonded to form the stack. The carving can include dicing the stack to yield stacklets, and polishing the stacklets to form beamformers. Each beamformer is thus a stack of beamsplitters, including a front beamsplitter in the form of a triangular or trapezoidal prism, and one or more beamsplitters in the form of rhomboid prisms. In use, a beamformer forms an output beam from an input beam. More specifically, the beamformer splits an input beam into plural output beam components that collectively constitute an output beam that differs in cross section from the input beam.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A beamformer assembly for forming beams of light, the beamformer assembly comprising plural beamformers, the plural beamformers including first and second beamformers, the second beamformer being optically coupled to the first beamformer so that a first beamformer, each of the first and second beamformers including:
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a stack of prisms, each of the prisms being monolithic and having orthogonal faces and at least one oblique face oblique to the orthogonal faces, each prism being adjacent to at least one other prism in the stack; and reflective layers, each reflective layer being disposed between oblique faces of adjacent prisms, each pair of adjacent prisms having a respective reflective layer disposed therebetween, the reflective layers having different reflectivities, the reflective layers of the first beamformer being characterized by a first beamsplitting angle, the reflective layers of the second beamformer being characterized by a second beamsplitting angle different from the first beamsplitting angle; the first beamformer outputting a second portion of the light input to the first beamformer in a first direction that is, at least in part, a function of the first beamsplitting angle, the second beamformer outputting light received from the first beamformer in a second direction that is different from the first direction and, at least in part, is based on the second beamsplitting angle. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A process for forming a beamformer assembly, the process comprising:
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forming plural beamformers including a first beamformer and a second beamformer, each beamformer being formed by, forming a stack of transparent sheets having reflective coatings, each transparent sheet being bonded to at least one other transparent sheet, the reflective coatings having different reflectivities; and carving the stack to define an array of prisms, each prism having been carved from a respective one of the transparent sheets, each of the prisms being monolithic and having at least one oblique face, each prism being bonded to at least one other prism in the array, each beamformer being characterized by a respective beamsplitting angle so that the first beamsplitter is characterized by a first beamsplitting angle, and the second beamsplitter is characterized by a second beamsplitting angle, different from the first beamsplitting angle; and optically coupling the second beamformer to the first beamformer so that a first portion of light input to the first beamformer is transferred to the second beamformer, the first beamformer outputting a second portion of the light input to the first beamformer in a first direction that is, at least in part, a function of the first beamsplitting angle, the second beamformer outputting light received from the first beamformer in a second direction that is different from the first direction and, at least in part, is based on the second beamsplitting angle. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification