Pyramidal spacer for increased stability Fabry Perot resonator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10066994-B2
Application number	US-201414575356-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 18, 2014
Priority date	Dec 18, 2014
Publication date	Sep 4, 2018
Grant date	Sep 4, 2018

Abstract

A Fabry Perot resonator spacer is provided. The Fabry Perot resonator spaced includes a tetrahedral body, the tetrahedral body being made of a material having a Poisson ratio and defining a plurality of triangular faces, a plurality of edges, and a plurality of corners, wherein each one of the plurality of corners is truncated to form a mounting surface in a mounting plane. The spacer further includes a first mirror channel configured to receive a first optical element, a second mirror channel configured to receive a second optical element, and an optical cavity extending linearly through the tetrahedral body between the first mirror channel and the second mirror channel.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A Fabry Perot resonator spacer, comprising:
a tetrahedral body, the tetrahedral body being made of a material having a Poisson ratio and defining a plurality of triangular faces, a plurality of truncated edges, and a plurality of corners, wherein each one of the plurality of corners is truncated to form a mounting surface in a mounting plane, and wherein each one of the plurality of truncated edges is truncated according to φ=tan −1 (1−υ), where φ is the angle relative to one of the mounting planes and υ is the Poisson ratio of the material of the tetrahedral body;
a first mirror channel configured to receive a first optical element;
a second mirror channel configured to receive a second optical element; and
an optical cavity extending linearly through the tetrahedral body between the first mirror channel and the second mirror channel.

2. The Fabry Perot resonator spacer of claim 1 , wherein the first mirror channel and the second mirror channel are disposed on distal truncated edges of the tetrahedral body.

3. The Fabry Perot resonator spacer of claim 2 , further comprising a first optical element disposed in the first mirror channel and a second optical element disposed in the second mirror channel.

4. The Fabry Perot resonator spacer of claim 3 , wherein the first optical element includes a first curved mirror and the second optical element includes a second curved mirror.

5. The Fabry Perot resonator spacer of claim 4 , wherein the first optical element further includes a first thermal stability ring and the second optical element further includes a second thermal stability ring, the first and the second thermal stability ring configured to shield the first and second optical elements from temperature variations.

6. The Fabry Perot resonator spacer of claim 5 , further comprising a first and a second bore, the first and the second bore extending orthogonally through the tetrahedral body relative to each other and the optical cavity.

7. The Fabry Perot resonator spacer of claim 6 , wherein the first and the second bore are cylindrical.

8. The Fabry Perot resonator spacer of claim 1 , wherein the optical cavity has a length of one inch.

9. The Fabry Perot resonator spacer of claim 1 , wherein the tetrahedral body is composed of one of ultra low expansion glass, single crystal silicon, carbon fiber materials, material having a negative coefficient of thermal expansion, silicon carbide, crystalline silicon carbide, sapphire, quartz, electro-optical material, piezo-electric material, and ceramic material.

10. A Fabry Perot resonator system, comprising:
a spacer having a tetrahedral body, the tetrahedral body being made of a material having a Poisson ratio and defining a plurality of edges and a plurality of corners, each one of the plurality of corners being truncated to form a mounting surface in a mounting plane, and each one of the plurality of edges being truncated at a predetermined angle relative to one of the mounting planes, wherein each one of the plurality of edges is truncated according to φ=tan −1 (1−υ), where φ is the angle relative to the mounting plane and υ is the Poisson ratio of the material of the tetrahedral body;
a first optical element and a second optical element spaced apart by the tetrahedral body; and
an optical cavity extending linearly through the tetrahedral body between the first optical element and the second optical element.

11. The Fabry Perot resonator system of claim 10 , wherein the first optical element and the second optical element are disposed on distal truncated edges of the tetrahedral body.

12. The Fabry Perot resonator system of claim 11 , wherein the first optical element includes a first curved mirror and the second optical element includes a second curved mirror.

13. The Fabry Perot resonator system of claim 12 , wherein the first optical element further includes a first thermal stability ring and the second optical element further includes a second thermal stability ring, the first and the second thermal stability ring configured to shield the first and second optical elements from temperature variations.

14. The Fabry Perot resonator system of claim 10 , further comprising a first and a second bore, the first and the second bore extending orthogonally through the tetrahedral body relative to each other and the optical cavity.

15. The Fabry Perot resonator system of claim 10 , wherein the optical cavity has a length of one inch.

Assignees

• Raytheon Co

Inventors

• Mohageg Makan

Classifications

• G02B7/182

  for mirrors · CPC title

• G01J3/0259

  Monolithic · CPC title

• G01J3/0286

  Constructional arrangements for compensating for fluctuations caused by temperature, humidity or pressure, or using cooling or temperature stabilization of parts of the device; Controlling the atmosphere inside a spectrometer, e.g. vacuum · CPC title

• G01J3/0205

  Optical elements not provided otherwise, e.g. optical manifolds, diffusers, windows · CPC title

• G02F1/21

  by interference · CPC title