Abstract:
1,185,919. Holography; microscopes. AMERICAN OPTICAL CORP. April 27, 1967 [April 29, 1966], No. 19509/67. Headings G2C and G2J. A microscope wherein a hologram of a specimen 19 is made using the two beam method comprises a laser 10, a beam splitter 12 giving a reference beam 11 and an object beam 9, an objective 20 for focusing an image of the specimen, and a beam combiner 13 arranged to direct the beams 11, 9 to interfere at a film 22. Phase microscopy as well as dark-field and oblique dark-field illumination can be applied by placing a phase plate 39 at the conjugate 36 of the laser 10 for dark-field and oblique dark-field. In another embodiment, Fig.2 (not shown) prisms (40, 41) and a mirror (42) provide reference and object beams which impinge on opposite sides of the film. Other arrangements, more or less compact than that of Fig. 1, are described.
Abstract:
967,641. Spectral analysis. AMERICAN OPTICAL CO. Oct. 27. 1961 [Nov. 2, 1960], No. 38625/61. Heading G1A. [Also in Divisions G2 and H3] An optical resonant cavity comprises a thin elongated transparent element surrounded by a medium of lower refractive index and having partially reflecting coatings at each end. Its optical path length is substantially equal to the product of an integral number of half-wavelengths of the wavelength it is desired to resonate and the refraction index of the transparent element but tuning to other frequencies is possible by varying the optical path length. This may be done electrically using the Kerr effect, or by altering the pressure applied to the ends of the cavity or by changing the temperature of the cavity. The diameter of the element and the refractive index difference between the element and its surrounding medium put an upper limit on the frequencies which the cavity will transmit in a single mode and must be properly chosen as explained in the Specification. The wavelength spacing of the light that the cavity will resonate (i.e. the line spacing) increases in inverse proportion to the cavity length, while the line width varies with the wavelength, the reflection co-efficient of the end coatings and inversely with the cavity length and effective refractive index. The resonant cavity may comprise a glass fibre with a thick coating of lower refractive index, the ends of the fibre being coated with evaporated partially reflecting films of aluminium or silver. Electrically tuned cavities may be provided by embedding electrodes 18, 20 in the cladding 14, as shown in Fig. 3, or by evaporating metallic fibres on the outer surface of the cladding and connecting the electrodes or the films to a variable voltage source; in this way the optical path length is varied by the Kerr effect. The resonant cavity of Fig. 3 may be used for spectral analysis, using the equipment shown in Fig. 5. A sweep generator 40 applies a saw tooth wave form to an oscilloscope 38 and also to the electrodes 18, 20 of the cavity so as to cause the cavity to resonate at different frequencies within a desired spectrum. The light output of the cavity is focused on a photo-cell 34, the output signal of which is a measure of the light intensity at each frequency and is applied as a video signal to the oscilloscope 38. If desired, the incident light from source 28 may be chopped and amplifier 36 tuned to the chopping frequency. Instead of using a glass fibre as the element 12 other materials, solids, liquids or mixtures thereof, may be employed. For instance, element 12 may be formed by high index oil in a hollow tube, or by flint glass particles embedded in methyl methacrylate. The outer cladding need not be glass; it can be an inert gas in which the element 12 is supported.