Optical deflection systems

Claim 2

Apparatus for deflecting an input beam of light, comprising a mirror having a concave reflective surface defined by a surface of revolution about an axis; optical focusing means for causing the input beam to converge to a line image perpendicular to and intersecting said axis; a further mirror positioned at said line image and mounted for rotation about said axis, said further mirror being curved in a plane through said line image so as to reflect the light from said line image to a further line image on the surface of the first-mentioned mirror and lying parallel to said axis; further optical focusing means for causing the light reflected from said further line image to converge to a point image; and means for rotating said further mirror about said axis so as to deflect said further line image and hence deflect said point image.

Claim 3

Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said means for rotating said further mirror is an electro-mechanical means responsive to an input electrical signal and adapted to rotate said further mirror through an angle dependent upon the magnitude of said electrical signal.

Claim 4

Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said further optical focusing means comprises a negative cylindrical lens positioned with its cylindrical axis perpendicular to the axis of said surface of revolution, and a positive spherical lens.

Claim 5

Apparatus for feflecting an input beam of light, comprising a first set of concave spherical mirrors having equal radii of curvature and centres of curvature lying along a common axis; a second set of concave, substantially cylindrical mirrors mounted for rotation about said axis and having equal radii of curvature; means for focusing said input beam to a line image perpendicular to said axis, lYing on one of said first mirrors, the beam then being reflected alternately between the mirrors of said first and second sets to form a series of line images on said mirrors, each of which image is normal to the immediately preceding or succeeding one in the series, the last of said images in the series lying on one of said first set of mirrors; means for focusing light from the last of said images to a point image; and means for rotating said second set of mirrors about said axis so as to deflect said images on said first set of mirrors and hence deflect said point image.

Claim 6

Apparatus for feflecting an input beam of light, comprising a first set of concave spherical mirrors having equal radii of curvature and centres of curvature lying along a common axis; a second set of concave, substantially cylindrical mirrors mounted for rotation about said axis and having equal radii of curvature; means for focusing said input beam to a line image perpendicular to said axis, lYing on one of said first mirrors, the beam then being reflected alternately between the mirrors of said first and second sets to form a series of line images on said mirrors, each of which image is normal to the immediately preceding or succeeding one in the series, the last of said images in the series lying on one of said first set of mirrors; means for focusing light from the last of said images to a point image; and means for rotating said second set of mirrors about said axis so as to deflect said images on said first set of mirrors and hence deflect said point image.

Claim 7

Apparatus according to claim 4 wherein said means for rotating said second set of mirrors comprises a plurality of electro-mechanical means, each of which is responsive to an input electrical signal and is adapted to rotate an associated one of said second set of mirrors through an angle dependent upon the magnitude of said electrical signal applied thereto.

Claim 8

Apparatus for deflecting an input beam of light, comprising a concave spherical mirror; two further mirrors positioned at respective conjugate foci of said concave spherical mirror and mounted for rotation about a common axis which intersects the centre of curvature of said concave spherical mirrors; optical focusing means for causing the input beam to converge to a line image, perpendicular to said axis, on one of said two further mirrors, the beam thus being reflected alternately between said two further mirrors by way of said spherical mirror a plurality of times before energing as an output beam of light; further optical focusing means for focusing said output beam to a point image; and means for rotating said two further mirrors about said axis thereby to deflect said point image.

Claim 9

Apparatus for deflecting an input beam of light, comprising a concave spherical mirror; two further mirrors positioned at respective conjugate foci of said concave spherical mirror and mounted for rotation about a common axis which intersects the centre of curvature of said concave spherical mirrors; optical focusing means for causing the input beam to converge to a line image, perpendicular to said axis, on one of said two further mirrors, the beam thus being reflected alternately between said two further mirrors by way of said spherical mirror a plurality of times before energing as an output beam of light; further optical focusing means for focusing said output beam to a point image; and means for rotating said two further mirrors about said axis thereby to deflect said point image.

Claim 10

Apparatus according to claim 6 wherein said further optical focusing means comprises a further concave spherical mirror positioned with its centre of curvature on said axis, to reflect said output beam, and a negative cylindrical lens and a positive spherical lens positioned in the path of the output beam after reflection from said further spherical mirror.

Claim 11

Apparatus according to claim 6 wherein said means for rotating said two further mirrors comprises two rotating devices for respectively rotating said two further mirrors in opposite senses about said axis.