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Class 356/493 - Displacement or distance


Subclass of Class 356 - Optics: measuring and testing
Definition: Dimensional measurement wherein the interferometer is
No. of patents: 175
Last issue date: 12/20/2011


1          
NumberTitleIssue Date
8081315Displacement measuring instrument and displacement measuring method
A laser interferometric measuring instrument includes: a light source that emits a laser beam of 1064 nm and another laser beam of 532 nm; a polarizing beam splitter; a dichroic mirror that splits a long-wavelength laser beam provided in a measurement optical path; ...
12/20/2011
8064066Method and apparatus for measuring displacement of a sample to be inspected using an interference light
In a displacement measurement apparatus using light interference, a probe light path is spatially separated from a reference light path. Therefore, when a temperature or refractive index distribution by a fluctuation of air or the like, or a mechanical vibration is ...
11/22/2011
7652771Interferometer with Double Polarizing Beam Splitter
An interferometer has a first reflective surface having a nominal orientation; a second reflective surface having a nominal orientation orthogonal to the nominal orientation of the first reflective surface; a retroreflector facing the first reflective surface; a dou...
01/26/2010
7612889Method and apparatus for measuring displacement of a sample
In a displacement measurement apparatus using light interference, a probe light path is spatially separated from a reference light path. Therefore, when a temperature or refractive index distribution by a fluctuation of air or the like, or a mechanical vibration is ...
11/03/2009
7561278Interferometer using integrated retarders to reduce physical volume
An apparatus includes an interferometer having a polarizing beam splitter to split an input beam into a measurement beam and a reference beam, the measurement beam contacting a measurement object, the reference beam contacting a reference object. The interferometer ...
07/14/2009
7554671Absolute position measurement apparatus
A first beam having high coherence and a second beam having low coherence and having a central wavelength difference from that of the first beam are multiplexed onto the same optical axis. First and second multiplexed beams obtained by beam splitting are emitted at ...
06/30/2009
7551290Absolute position measurement apparatus
A first beam having high coherence and a second beam having low coherence are multiplexed onto the same optical axis. This multiplexed beam is split into first and second multiplexed beams. The first multiplexed beam is directed towards a measurement reflection plan...
06/23/2009
7532330Angle interferometers
Methods and systems for determining information about the incident angle of a beam are disclosed, the method including directing a beam having an s-polarized component and a p-polarized component to reflect from an interface at a non-normal angle, where the non-norm...
05/12/2009
7525665Polarising interferometer
A polarising double-passed interferometer comprises a polarising beamsplitter (16), a reference mirror (20) in the path of a reference beam (14) and a movable measurement mirror (26) in the path of a measurement beam (12). The refe...
04/28/2009
7391521Position detection apparatus and method
Position detection apparatus comprises: an incident unit that forms a parallel beam from a light beam of a light source and supplies the parallel beam to a beam splitter in a way that the separated beams, obtained from the parallel beam by the beam splitter, are res...
06/24/2008
7382466Coating for reflective optical components
An optical component has a coating including one or more layers at each reflecting surface. The coating causes the optical component to have polarization eigenstates that are substantially linear and to have the properties of a half-wave plate. The coated optical co...
06/03/2008
7379187Detector configuration for interferometric distance measurement
A phase difference detector generates a plurality of signals from an input beam including orthogonal, linearly polarized object and reference beam components. The detector may be configured such that as the reference and object beam components traverse the detector,...
05/27/2008
7372577Monolithic, spatially-separated, common path interferometer
Spatially-separated heterodyne interferometer architecture is combined with monolithic glass construction techniques to provide a monolithic, spatially-separated, common-path interferometer. The monolithic interferometer includes multiple optical components bonded t...
05/13/2008
7365857Precompensation of polarization errors in heterodyne interferometry
Apparatus and methods for adjusting the polarizations of the components of an input beam to reduce leakage caused by imperfections in an interferometer are disclosed. The apparatus includes an interferometer positioned to receive an input beam that includes two comp...
04/29/2008
7362445Active control and detection of two nearly orthogonal polarizations in a fiber for heterodyne interferometry
A polarization control system includes a light source that generates two light beams with different polarization states and optical frequencies. A polarization state modulator changes the polarization states of the two light beams. A first detector path generates a ...
04/22/2008
7358516System and method for determining a position or/and orientation of two objects relative to each other as well as beam guiding arrangement, interferometer arrangement and device for changing an optical path length for use in such a system and method
A system and a method for determining a position of two objects relative to each other is suggested, comprising: a source 43 of coherent radiation, a beam guidance for providing a measuring branch 49 for a measuring beam, which has an optical path leng...
04/15/2008
7355719Interferometer for measuring perpendicular translations
An interferometer provides a large dynamic range for perpendicular displacement measurements. In operation, a measurement reflector on an object reflects a measurement beam to an overlying Porro prism, and a reference reflector on the object returns a reference beam...
04/08/2008
7355720Optical displacement sensor
An optical displacement sensor is disclosed which uses a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) coupled to an optical cavity formed by a moveable membrane and an output mirror of the VCSEL. This arrangement renders the lasing characteristics of the VCSEL sen...
04/08/2008
7349072Lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method
Embodiments of the invention include an interferometer measurement system in which at least one reflective surface is arranged such that, in use, the beam path of interferometer radiation of the interferometer measurement system incident on the at least one reflecti...
03/25/2008
7333214Detector for interferometric distance measurement
A detector for interferometric distance or displacement measurement. The detector may receive orthogonally polarized object and reference path output beams, which are directed to a polarization-sensitive beam deflecting element. The beam deflecting element deflects ...
02/19/2008
7330250Nondestructive evaluation of subsurface damage in optical elements
A non-destructive process for evaluating subsurface damage in an optical element focuses a microscope at points within the optical element and measures the intensity of reflected light. In one embodiment, a microscope focus a laser beam at a measurement point with t...
02/12/2008
7330272Discrete quarter wave plates for displacement measuring interferometers
At least two discrete quarter wave plates are provided for use as plane mirrors or reflectors in a displacement measuring interferometer, where the plates share common or substantially common reflecting surface geometries. A plurality of geometrically matched discre...
02/12/2008
7330237Exposure apparatus equipped with interferometer and method of using same
An exposure apparatus includes a projection optical system for projecting an exposure pattern, onto an object to be exposed, and a measuring apparatus for measuring, as an interference fringe, optical performance of the projection optical system, wherein the measuri...
02/12/2008
7327465Compensation for effects of beam misalignments in interferometer metrology systems
In general, in a first aspect, the invention features methods that include deriving a first beam and a second beam from an input beam and directing the first and second beams along different paths, where the path of the first beam contacts a measurement object, prod...
02/05/2008
7327466Multi-corner retroreflector
A two-corner retroreflector that includes a common face positioned to receive two beams and two corners each positioned to receive one of the beams and retro-reflect it back through the common face. ...
02/05/2008
7317539Polarizing beam splitter device, interferometer module, lithographic apparatus, and device manufacturing method
The invention relates to a polarizing beam splitter device, an interferometer module system, a lithographic apparatus, and a device manufacturing method. The polarizing beam splitter device includes an optical element and a polarizing beam splitter layer. The optica...
01/08/2008
7315381Monolithic quadrature detector
A compact monolithic quadrature detector generates four signals from an input beam including orthogonally polarized object and reference beam components provided by an interferometer. The single input beam may be split into four output beams using a first beam split...
01/01/2008
7315380Laser interferometer for repeatable mounting on the wall of a vacuum chamber
A laser interferometer is disclosed comprising a housing capable of being substantially repeatably mounted to a wall of an environmental chamber, the housing including a laser source, a reflector attached to an object located within the environmental chamber, and a ...
01/01/2008
7310152Interferometer assemblies having reduced cyclic errors and system using the interferometer assemblies
In general, in one aspect, the invention features apparatus that include an interferometer including a main assembly having two laterally displaced polarizing beam splitter interfaces, wherein the interfaces are positioned to receive two spatially separated beams an...
12/18/2007
7298493Interferometric optical assemblies and systems including interferometric optical assemblies
In general, in one aspect, the invention features assemblies that include a first polarizing beam splitter positioned in the paths of a pair of initial beams, the polarizing beam splitter being configured to combine the pair of initial beams to form an input beam. T...
11/20/2007
7292347Dual laser high precision interferometer
An absolute distance measuring device based on laser interferometry may combine coarse, intermediate, and highest resolution measurement techniques to find the absolute distance to a sample surface with high resolution. The device may provide at least two laser wave...
11/06/2007
7283248Multi-axis interferometers and methods and systems using multi-axis interferometers
In general, in one aspect, the invention features an apparatus including a multi-axis interferometer configured to produce at least three output beams each including interferometric information about a distance between the interferometer and a measurement object alo...
10/16/2007
7283247Optical probe system
An optical probe system comprises an optical probe that is inserted into a body cavity, a light source that generates light which is irradiated to an object, and a high-magnification observation unit included in the distal section of the optical probe. The optical p...
10/16/2007
7277180Optical connection for interferometry
A method including: (i) directing a beam to an interferometer head using an optical connection, the beam including a first beam component having a first polarization and a first frequency and a second beam component having a second polarization different from the fi...
10/02/2007
7276718System and method for determining a position or/and orientation of two objects relative to each other as well as beam guiding arrangement, interferometer arrangement and device for changing an optical path length for use in such a system and method
A system and a method for determining a position of two objects relative to each other is suggested, comprising: a source 43 of coherent radiation, a beam guidance for providing a measuring branch 49 for a measuring beam, which has an optical path leng...
10/02/2007
7274468Optical beam shearing apparatus
Beam shearing apparatus for introducing a lateral shear between the components of a light beam. The apparatus is an optical assembly having a polarizing interface and input and output facets and two reflecting surfaces one of which is arranged at an angle generally ...
09/25/2007
7270325Sheet feeding apparatus, image reading apparatus, and method of detecting double feed
A sheet feeding apparatus includes first and second transport devices disposed at a transport guide with a distance in between for nipping and transporting a sheet, and a double feed detection device disposed between the first transport device and the second transpo...
09/18/2007
7271905Method and apparatus for self-referenced wafer stage positional error mapping
A wafer stage overlay error map is created using standard overlay targets and a special numerical algorithm. A reticle including a 2-dimensional array of standard overlay targets is exposed several times onto a photoresist coated silicon wafer using a photolithograp...
09/18/2007
7268886Method and apparatus for simultaneously measuring displacement and angular variations
Disclosed herein is a method and apparatus for simultaneously measuring a displacement and angular variations. The method and apparatus of the present invention allows light radiated from a single light source to be placed along a light axis so as to simultaneously ...
09/11/2007
7254288Corner cube depolarizer
The depolarizer utilizes a commonly available BK7 glass corner cube to transform linearly polarized light into depolarized light with 100% conversion efficiency. The low-cost corner cube is a unique optical element that greatly simplifies the means for producing com...
08/07/2007
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