Patents by Inventor William P. Proffitt

William P. Proffitt has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 4864578
    Abstract: A scannable dye laser is provided with an integral wavemeter under computer control. The wavemeter has improved fine and coarse readout components. Incremental laser scans are precisely linked together to provide long, continuous frequency scans. The fine readout of the wavemeter provides a means for accurately piecing together the incremental scans.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 1987
    Date of Patent: September 5, 1989
    Assignee: Coherent, Inc.
    Inventors: William P. Proffitt, Gerald H. Williams, James L. Hobart, Thomas F. Johnston
  • Patent number: 4272158
    Abstract: A broadband optical diode consists of a Faraday element within a magnetic field and an optically active element. The materials and dimensions of the Faraday element and the optically active element are chosen so that their polarization rotations approximately match over a broad wavelength span, with the rotation angles and the mismatch between them specified by the conditions that the forward wave insertion loss does not exceed a maximum specified value, and the differential loss between forward and backward traveling waves is not less than a minimum specified value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 1979
    Date of Patent: June 9, 1981
    Assignee: Coherent, Inc.
    Inventors: Thomas F. Johnston, Jr., William P. Proffitt
  • Patent number: 4268800
    Abstract: A tipping Brewster plate, used for fine tuning a tunable ring laser, such as a dye laser, is located close to a flat mirror comprising one of the optical elements of the ring optical resonator, so that both the incident and reflected beam from the flat mirror pass through the tipping Brewster plate. When the ring laser is tuned by tipping the Brewster plate, no lateral displacement of the ring laser beam takes place.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 1979
    Date of Patent: May 19, 1981
    Assignee: Coherent, Inc.
    Inventors: Thomas F. Johnston, Jr., William P. Proffitt