Diffraction delay line for pulse expansion and compression

Claim 1

IN AN APPARATUS TO EFFECT EXPANSION OR COMPRESSION OF A PULSE THE COMBINATION OF A SUBSTANTIALLY RECTANGULARLY SHAPED QUARTZ BLOCK HAVING ONE BEVELED CUT OFF END AND THE OTHER END STEP CUT TO PROVIDE A SUBSTANTIALLY RECTANGULARLY SHAPED EXTENSION THEREFROM, A REFLECTIVE GRATING CUT INTO THE BEVELED CUT OFF END OF THE QUARTZ BLOCK TO REFLECT ANY SONIC WAVE IMPINGING THEREON IN PROPORTION TO FREQUENCY, SAID GRATING COMPRISING BETWEEN ABOUT 50 AND ABOUT 150 CURVED REFLECTOR SURFACES ARRANGED SEQUENTIALLY TO BE RESPONSIVE TO SUCCESSIVELY INCREASING OR DECREASING PULSE FREQUENCIES, AN INPUT TRANSDUCER OPERATIVELY AFFIXED TO THE END OF THE SHORTER PART OF THE STEP CUT, AND AN OUTPUT TRANSDUCER OPERATIVELY AFFIXED TO THE EXTENDED PART OF THE STEP CUT, SAID TRANSDUCER BEING IN SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL RELATIONSHIP TO SAID REFLECTOR SURFACES OF SAID REFLECTIVE GRATING.