Scanner system having rotating deflector hologram

Claim 2

A holographic spinner having a plurality of hologram sectors for diffracting light along a scan path as the spinner is rotated about a central spinner axis, characterised in that the hologram sectors diffract with a barrel distortion property opposite to the scan line bow caused by rotation of the spinner, so as to produce a substantially linear scan line.

Claim 3

A spinner as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the hologram sectors include hologram fringes recorded so as to have high diffractive efficiency for both s and p polarized light.

Claim 4

A spinner as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the hologram sectors include fringes recorded so as to have high diffractive efficiency for light of a selected polarization.

Claim 5

A spinner as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the hologram sectors are recorded and are positioned about the spinner so as to have the focussing properties of a large aperture lens with a central lens axis intersecting the plane of rotation of said spinner outside of the perimeter of the spinner.

Claim 6

A spinner as claimed in claim 4, characterised in that the distance from the perimeter of the spinner to said central lens axis is substantially greater than the distance to said central spinner axis.

Claim 7

A scanning system comprising: A. an optical spinner having a surface rotatable about an axis that is substantially perpendicular to said surface at its point of interaction with said axis; said spinner divided into a plurality of segments; B. a plurality of optical elements each capable of processing light by diffraction in a predetermined manner each of said elements included respectively in a portion of said segments; C. wherein said portions of said segments are coupled for receiving a light beam at the portion of said segments which include said elements, said light beam received at a predetermined angle in order to maximize efficiency of said system for randomly polarized light; D. a scanning plane; E. means for receiving said light at said scanning plane after said light is diffracted by said elements; and F. correction means, included in said elements, for enabling a substantially straight line scan locus on said scanning plane as said spinner rotates.

Claim 8

A scanning system comprising: A. an optical spinner having a surface rotatable about an axis that is substantially perpendicular to said surface at its point of interaction with said axis; said spinner divided into a plurality of segments; B. a plurality of optical elements each capable of processing light by diffraction in a predetermined manner each of said elements included respectively in a portion of said segments; C. wherein said portions of said segments are coupled for receiving a light beam at the portion of said segments which include said elements, said light beam received at a predetermined angle in order to maximize efficiency of said system for randomly polarized light; D. a scanning plane; E. means for receiving said light at said scanning plane after said light is diffracted by said elements; and F. correction means, included in said elements, for enabling a substantially straight line scan locus on said scanning plane as said spinner rotates.

Claim 9

A system as claimed in claim 6, characterised in that said correction means includes a substantially circular pattern of holographically recorded diffractive lenses, each said circular pattern having a centre outside the periphery of said spinner.

Claim 10

A system as claimed in claim 7, characterised in that the distance from the periphery to said centre is substantially different than the distance from the axis of rotation of said spinner to the periphery of said spinner.

Claim 11

A system as claimed in claim 7, characterised in that the spacing between successive fringes of said pattern of diffractive lenses increases with increasing distance from said centre.

Claim 12

A system as claimed in claim 6, characterised in that said elements are holographically recorded so as to remove aberrations otherwise produced during readout of such system.

Claim 13

A system as claimed in claim 10, characterised in that said holographic recording is accomplished by use of a correcting lens.

Claim 14

A system as claimed in claim 6, characterised in that said elements are holographically recorded such that there is a spatial distribution of fringes in the segments causing the segments during readout by the system to have the property of a lens with barrel distortion in the amount required to reduce curvature in the scanned line to a negligible value.

Claim 15

A system as claimed in claim 6, further characterised by means for reducing diffraction efficiency polarization dependence by recording with those parameters that enable a hologram to have substantially jointly maximized efficiencies in the p and s directions.

Claim 16

A system as claimed in claim 6, characterised in that each of said portions of said segments are transmissive.

Claim 17

A system as claimed in claim 6, characterised in that each of said portions of said segments are reflective.