Monochromator device

Claim 1

THE COMBINATION COMPRISING: A SOURCE OF RADIANT FLUX HAVING AN OUTPUT ENERGY LEVEL DETERMINED BY THE AMOUNT OF ELECTRICAL POWER APPLIED THERETO AND GENERATING A RANGE OF RADIANT FLUX WAVELENGTHS CORRESPONDING TO AT LEAST A PREDETERMINED RANGE OF WAVELENGTHS; AN ELECTRICALLY CONTROLLABLE POWER SUPPLY CIRCUIT CONNECTED TO SAID SOURCE OF RADIANT FLUX FOR APPLYING ELECTRICAL POWER THERETO, THE AMOUNT OF POWER APPLIED TO SAID SOURCE OF RADIANT FLUX BEING DETERMINED BY APPLYING AN ELECTRICAL CONTROL SIGNAL THERETO; A MONOCHROMATOR DEVICE RECEIVING SAID RADIANT FLUX ON AN ENTRANCE SLIT AND DISPERSING SAID RADIANT FLUX ON AN EXIT SLIT THEREBY PROVIDING AN OUTPUT RADIANT FLUX THROUGH SAID OUTPUT SLIT HAVING A LIMITED BAND OF WAVELENGTHS, SAID MONOCHROMATOR DEVICE INCLUDING MEANS FOR VARIABLY POSITIONING SAID DISPERSED RADIANT FLUX ON SAID EXIT SLIT SO THAT SAID DISPERSED RADIANT IN SAID BAND OF WAVELENGTHS IS VARIABLE OVER SAID PREDETERMINED RANGE OF WAVELENGTHS; DRIVE MEANS COUPLED TO SAID MEANS FOR VARIABLY POSITIONING SAID DISPERSED RADIANT FLUX FOR SCANNING SAID MONOCHROMATOR DEVICE OVER SAID PREDETERMINED RANGE OF WAVELENGTHS; A PLURALITY OF FILTERS; MEANS COUPLED TO SAID DRIVE MEANS FOR SELECTIVELY POSITIONING AT LEAST ONE OF SAID PLURALITY OF FILTERS ADJACENT TO ONE OF SAID SLITS FOR FILTERING SAID RADIANT FLUX APPLIED THERETO; VARIABLE CONTROL SIGNAL GENERATING MEANS COUPLED TO SAID DRIVE MEANS TO GENERATE A PRESET ELECTRICAL CONTROL SIGNAL THAT VARIES IN A MANNER THAT IS APPROXIMATELY INVERSELY RELATED TO THE FLUX LEVEL OF THE MONOCHROMATOR DEVICE OUTPUT FLUX AS SAID MONOCHROMATOR DEVICE IS SCANNED OVER SAID PREDETERMINED RANGE OF WAVELENGTHS; CIRCUIT MEANS COUPLING SAID VARIABLE CONTROL SIGNAL GENERATING MEANS TO SAID POWER SUPPLY CIRCUIT TO APPLY SAID ELECTRICAL CONTROL SIGNAL THERETO WHEREBY THE OUTPUT ENERGY LEVEL OF SAID SOURCE OF RADIANT FLUX IS VARIED SO THAT THE ENERGY LEVEL OF FLUX RECEIVED BY SAID MONOCHROMATOR DEVICE IS CORRESPONDINGLY VARIED IN A MANNER THAT ITS OUTPUT FLUX TENDS TO REMAIN SUBSTANTIALLY CONSTANT AS SAID MONOCHROMATOR DEVICE IS SCANNED OVER SAID PREDETERMINED RANGE OF WAVELENGTHS, AND AN ADJUSTABLE SLIT MECHANISM POSITIONED ADJACENT ONE OF SAID SLITS AND BEING COUPLED TO SAID DRIVE MEANS TO OPEN OR CLOSE THE SLIT THEREBETWEEN IN A PRESET MANNER TO COOPERATE WITH SAID ELECTRICAL CONTROL SIGNAL TO HOLD THE FLUX LEVEL OF SAID MONOCHROMATOR DEVICE OUTPUT FLUX SUBSTANTIALLY CONSTANT.