Diffuser fiber incident energy concentrator and method of using same
First Claim
1. An incident radiant energy concentration device comprising an optical wave guide element having an edge and a length dimension, and being a cylindrical optical wave guide, diffuser means coaxialy located within said optical wave guide to convert incident radiation energy within said wave guide to effect capture of energy in guided modes of said wave guide and by cumulative propagation of trapped energy along said wave guide length dimension and effect a concentration of incident radiation energy at the device'"'"'s edge.
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Abstract
This invention relates to a coaxial diffuser optical fiber wave guide incident radiation energy concentrator using internal diffusion to scatter incident radiation energy into guided modes to effect a cumulative propagation of the energy along the wave guide axis which creates a concentration of the incident radiation energy at the collector'"'"'s edges.
66 Citations
18 Claims
- 1. An incident radiant energy concentration device comprising an optical wave guide element having an edge and a length dimension, and being a cylindrical optical wave guide, diffuser means coaxialy located within said optical wave guide to convert incident radiation energy within said wave guide to effect capture of energy in guided modes of said wave guide and by cumulative propagation of trapped energy along said wave guide length dimension and effect a concentration of incident radiation energy at the device'"'"'s edge.
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8. A device for concentrating radiant energy comprising, an optical wave guide having a length dimension extending between a pair of ends, and a first external surface exposed to receive incident radiation between the ends of said length dimension and a second external surface exposed to emit radiation at at least one of said ends of said length dimension,
means for exposing said first external surface to incident radiation, means coaxially located within said optical wave guide for internally changing the direction of travel of at least a portion of radiant energy within said optical wave guide to effect capture of a fraction of the internally incident radiation in guided modes of said optical wave guide and by cumulative propagation of trapped radiation energy along said wave guide length dimension to thereby effect a concentration of radiation energy and emission at at least one of said ends of said optical wave guide.
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17. A method of concentrating radiant energy comprising,
providing an optical wave guide having a length dimension and a first external surface exposed to receive incident radiation between said length dimension and a second external surface exposed to emit radiation at one end of said length dimension, exposing said first external surface to incident radiation, converting the direction of at least a portion of said energy within said optical wave guide to effect an internal capture of a fraction of the incident radiant energy in guided modes of said optical wave guide and by cumulative propagation of trapped radiation energy along said optical wave guide length dimension to effect a concentration of radiation energy and emission at at least one of said ends of said optical wave guide.
Specification