A reflective mirror system for controlling the supply beam of a laser is provided. The system includes a first mirror having the surface of a partial section of the surface of a paraboloid of revolution and mounted in a housing relative to a collimated beam such as produced by a laser, so as to reflect the beam from the direction of travel on to a second mirror. From the second mirror the beam is reflected through an opening in the first mirror and converged to a point of focus for doing useful work on a workpiece.
The invention is directed to a pancratic mirror objective system for laser focussing and especially for laser machining apparatus. The pancratic mirror objective system preferably includes a convex paraboloid mirror and an ellipsoid mirror. The ellipsoid mirror can be approximated by a toric or spherical form. The focus F.sub.1 of the paraboloid mirror P and the first focus of the ellipsoid mirror E are coincident. By rotating the ellipsoid mirror E about the axis parallel to the incident laser beam through the first focus F.sub.1, the effective image side aperture (for example K=4 to K=8) and the focal length are varied. The track control compensates for the movement of the focus F.sub.2 in laser machining apparatus.
A manipulator device for a reflecting mirror having a mirror holder disposed through a spring between the mirror holder and a housing so that a face of a reflecting mirror mounted on the inner surface of the mirror holder is placed in such a position that an incident beam axis has a perpendicular relation with an outgoing beam axis. A protruding portion is disposed at the center of an outer face of the mirror holder and firmly contacts an opposite face of the holder receiver. A plurality of adjusting bolts are mounted on the holder receiver which is fixed to the housing, allowing the mirror holder to tilt about the center of the protruding portion, so that the angle of the reflecting mirror can be adjustable.
A single reflecting transmitter with improved performance capabilities. The mproved performance is achieved by using a modified surface called a wavy mirror. The wavy mirror has its focal distance a function of the angle measured around the axis of revolution. The wavy mirror is designed to reflect light into a predetermined pattern of controlled size and energy distribution. The reflection is oriented so that the light source does not obscure the reflected beam.
A laser system for medical applications has at least two lasers and a movable concave reflector. The lasers are capable of generating beams of coherent electromagnetic radiation. One of the beams, an aiming beam, is aligned to impinge the reflector, to reflect therefrom and to impinge a biological specimen. The reflector is moved until the beam is aligned to impinge the desired position. The reflector is held stationary and the second beam is generated. The second beam is also aligned to impinge the reflector to reflect therefrom and to impinge the same desired position as that impinged by the first beam.
An optical beam homogenizer divides and redirects an incident beam to provide uniform irradiation to a plane surface. The beam homogenizer is particularly useful in an apparatus and method for uniform laser irradiation of materials. The apparatus comprises a laser, a beam homogenizer, and a support for the material being irradiated. Depending on the system parameters, the apparatus is useful for metal hardening, semiconductor annealing, or other materials processing applications.
