Optical beam scanner providing angular displacements of large beam diameters over wide fields of view

Claim 2

In an optical scanning system, a rotating disc, a plurality of senses carried on said disc and spaced around its periphery in side-by-side relationship, pyramid means at the center of said disc and operatively connected thereto so as to rotate therewith, the sides of said pyramid means defining a number of plane reflecting facets equal to the number of lenses, each facet being located at the focal plane of an associated lens, and means for producing a light beam and for focusing said beam into a spot which intersects the focal planes of said lenses on said reflecting facets such that the beam of light will be reflected from each facet to its associated lens so that the principal axis of said lens is initially on one side of the beam, then coincident with it, and finally on the other side of the beam, whereby the angle scanned by the beam will comprise the angle through which the beam is deflected as the lens rotates through the angle it subtends plus the refractive angles produced by virtue of the initial and final off-axis positions of the beam with respect to the principal axis of the lens.

Claim 3

The sYstem of claim 1 wherein said light beam focused into a spot is stationary.

Claim 4

The system of claim 1 including means for moving said light beam across the focal plane of each lens in a direction opposite to the direction of rotation of said disc, whereby the scanning rate of said system is increased.

Claim 5

The system of claim 3 wherein the means for moving said light beam includes lens means for focusing a stationary light beam onto said rotating facets, and stationary mirrors for directing the light beam reflected from said facets onto the facet spaced 180* with respect thereto, whereby the light beam on said facet spaced 180* with respect to the incident stationary beam will move across the facets in a direction opposite to the direction of rotation of said disc.

Claim 6

In an optical scanning system, a rotating disc, a plurality of spherical mirrors carried on said disc and spaced around its periphery in side-by-side relationship, pyramid means at the center of said disc and operatively connected thereto so as to rotate therewith, the sides of said pyramids defining a number of plane reflecting facets equal to the number of spherical mirrors, each facet being located at the focal plane of an associated one of said spherical mirrors, and means for producing a light beam and for focusing said beam into a spot which intersects the focal planes of said spherical mirrors on said reflecting facets such that the beam of light will be reflected from the facet to said spherical mirror so that the principal axis of said spherical mirror is initially on one side of the beam, then coincident with it, and finally on the other side of the beam, whereby the angle scanned by the beam will comprise the angle through which the beam is deflected as the spherical mirror rotates through the angle it subtends plus the reflective angles produced by virtue of the initial and final off-axis positions of the beam with respect to the principal axis of the spherical mirror.

Claim 7

In an optical scanning system, a rotating disc, a plurality of spherical mirrors carried on said disc and spaced around its periphery in side-by-side relationship, pyramid means at the center of said disc and operatively connected thereto so as to rotate therewith, the sides of said pyramids defining a number of plane reflecting facets equal to the number of spherical mirrors, each facet being located at the focal plane of an associated one of said spherical mirrors, and means for producing a light beam and for focusing said beam into a spot which intersects the focal planes of said spherical mirrors on said reflecting facets such that the beam of light will be reflected from the facet to said spherical mirror so that the principal axis of said spherical mirror is initially on one side of the beam, then coincident with it, and finally on the other side of the beam, whereby the angle scanned by the beam will comprise the angle through which the beam is deflected as the spherical mirror rotates through the angle it subtends plus the reflective angles produced by virtue of the initial and final off-axis positions of the beam with respect to the principal axis of the spherical mirror.

Claim 8

The system of claim 5 wherein the optical axes of said mirrors are perpendicular to the axis of rotation of said rotating disc, and including a stationary mirror having an opening through which a light beam reflected from a facet passes, said stationary mirror serving to reflect light reflected from said circumferentially spaced mirrors out of the plane of the rotating assembly comprising said disc, said mirrors and the pyramid means.

Claim 9

The system of claim 6 wherein the axes of said mirrors spaced around the periphery of said disc are parallel to the rotational axis of said disc, and including a stationary mirror for reflecting a beam of light reflected from said facets onto said mirror spaced around the periphery of said disc.