Patents Examined by Michael A. Lyons
  • Patent number: 11733027
    Abstract: A laser interferometer includes a light source that emits first laser light, an optical modulator that includes a vibrator and modulates the first laser light by using the vibrator to generate second laser light including a modulated signal, a photodetector that receives interference light between third laser light including a sample signal generated by reflecting the first laser light on an object and the second laser light to output a light reception signal, a demodulation circuit that demodulates the sample signal from the light reception signal based on a reference signal, and an oscillation circuit that outputs the reference signal to the demodulation circuit, and the vibrator is a signal source of the oscillation circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2023
    Inventors: Kohei Yamada, Takeshi Shimizu
  • Patent number: 11733026
    Abstract: A single-beam three-degree-of-freedom homodyne laser interferometer based on an array detector. A single-frequency laser beam is input to a Michelson interference structure, the measurement beam and the reference beam perform non-coaxial interference and form a single-beam homodyne interference signal by setting the angle of a reference plane mirror, the array detector is selected to effectively receive the single-beam homodyne interference signal, and finally, three-degree-of-freedom signal linear decoupling on the single-beam homodyne interference signal is achieved through a three-degree-of-freedom decoupling method based on Lissajous ellipse fitting.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2022
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2023
    Assignee: HARBIN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
    Inventors: Liang Yu, Pengcheng Hu, Xionglei Lin, Xiaobo Su
  • Patent number: 11719531
    Abstract: A holographic interferometer, comprising: an imaging device capturing an interference pattern created by at least two polarized light beams; a structured phase retardation element located in an optical path of at least one polarized light beam of the at least two polarized light beams; and a polarizer located between the imaging device and the structured phase retardation element, the polarizer projects each polarization of each of the at least two polarized light beams on a single axis to create the interference pattern on the imaging device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2023
    Assignee: RD Synergy Ltd.
    Inventor: Dov Furman
  • Patent number: 11719529
    Abstract: An interferometer system including: an optical system arranged to split a radiation beam from a laser source into a first beam along a first optical path and a second beam along a second optical path, and recombine the first beam and the second beam to a recombined beam, a detector to receive the recombined beam and to provide a detector signal based on the received recombined beam, and a processing unit, wherein a first optical path length of the first optical path and a second optical path length of the second optical path have an optical path length difference, and wherein the processing unit is arranged to determine a mode hop of the laser source on the basis of a phase shift in the detector signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2023
    Assignee: ASML NETHERLANDS B.V.
    Inventors: Maarten Jozef Jansen, Manoj Kumar Mridha, Engelbertus Antonius Fransiscus Van der Pasch
  • Patent number: 11721569
    Abstract: Examples disclosed herein are directed to a method and apparatus for determining a position of a ring within a process kit. In one example, a sensor assembly for a substrate processing chamber is provided. The sensor assembly includes a housing having a top surface, a bottom surface opposite the top surface, and a plurality of sidewalls connecting the top surface to the bottom surface. The housing also has a recess in the top surface, the recess forming an interior volume within the housing. The sensory assembly includes a bias member, and a contact member disposed on the bias member. The bias member and contact member are disposed within the recess. A sensor is configured to detect a displacement of the contact member. The displacement of the contact member corresponds to a relative position of an edge ring.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2023
    Inventors: Andrew Myles, Andreas Schmid, Phillip A. Criminale, Steven E. Babayan
  • Patent number: 11719598
    Abstract: An optical device includes an optical circuit and a test circuit optically connected to the optical circuit. The test circuit includes a first grating coupler configured to receive test light, a second grating coupler configured to output, as reference light, the test light passed through the first grating coupler, and a first branch coupler connected to an output of the first grating coupler. The first branch coupler includes first output connected to an input of the optical circuit and configured to branch and output the test light from the first grating coupler to the optical circuit. Further, the first branch coupler includes a second output connected to an input of the second grating coupler and configured to branch and output the test light from the first grating coupler to the second grating coupler.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2023
    Assignee: FUJITSU OPTICAL COMPONENTS LIMITED
    Inventor: Masaki Sugiyama
  • Patent number: 11713960
    Abstract: A method for measuring a surface of an object including at least one structure using low coherence optical interferometry, the method including the steps of acquiring an interferometric signal at a plurality of measurement points in a field of view and, for at least one measurement point, attributing the interferometric signal acquired to a class of interferometric signals from a plurality of classes, each of the classes being associated with a reference interferometric signal representative of a typical structure; and analysing the interferometric signal to derive therefrom an item of information on the structure at the measurement point, as a function of its class.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2023
    Assignee: UNITY SEMICONDUCTOR
    Inventors: Jean-François Boulanger, Isabelle Bergoënd
  • Patent number: 11713959
    Abstract: An interferometric overlay tool may include an interferometer and a controller. The interferometer may include one or more beamsplitters to split illumination including one or more wavelengths into a probe beam along a probe path and a reference beam along a reference path, one or more illumination optics to illuminate a grating-over-grating structure with the probe beam, one or more collection optics to collect a measurement beam from the grating-over-grating structure, one or more beam combiners to combine the measurement beam and the reference beam as an interference beam, and a variable phase delay configured to vary an optical path difference (OPD) in the interferometer. The controller may receive one or more interference signals representative of interferometric phase data associated with a plurality of OPD values and the one or more wavelengths from a detector and determine an overlay error of the grating-over-grating structure based on the interferometric phase data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2023
    Assignee: KLA Corporation
    Inventors: Andrei V. Shchegrov, Ido Dolev, Yoram Uziel, Amnon Manassen
  • Patent number: 11710614
    Abstract: A light interference system is provided. The light interference system includes a light source configured to generate a measurement light; a fiber configured to propagate therethrough the measurement light; and a measurement device. The fiber includes a single-mode fiber, a multimode fiber and a connector connecting the single-mode fiber and the multimode fiber. A tip end of the fiber is formed of the multimode fiber, and an end surface of the tip end of the fiber is configured to emit the measurement light to a measurement target object and receive a reflection light from the measurement target object. The measurement device is configured to measure physical property of the measurement target object based on the reflection light.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 25, 2023
    Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Kenji Nagai, Hideaki Nagasaki, Satoshi Suzuki
  • Patent number: 11709111
    Abstract: The disclosure provides a device for detecting a wavefront error by modal-based optimization phase retrieval using an extended Nijboer-Zernike (ENZ) theory. The detection device includes a point light source (1), a half mirror (2), a lens (3) to be tested, a plane mirror (4) and an image sensor (5). The wavefront error of the component under test is characterized by using a Zernike polynomial, and a Zernike polynomial coefficient is solved based on an ENZ diffraction theory. The present disclosure realizes the one-time full-aperture measurement on the wavefront error of a large-aperture optical component, and can use a partially overexposed image to achieve accurate wavefront error retrieval. Meanwhile, the present disclosure overcomes the contradiction between underexposure and high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) caused by a limited dynamic range when the image sensor (5) acquires an image. The detection device is simple and does not have high requirements for the experimental environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 25, 2023
    Inventors: Jian Bai, Lei Zhao, Binjie Lu, Xiao Huang, Xiangdong Zhou, Jing Hou
  • Patent number: 11703315
    Abstract: Provided are systems and methods for using laser interferometry to measure moving objects. Systems provided include laser interferometry systems comprising: a laser emitter configured to emit a laser beam; a beam splitter configured to split the emitted laser beam into a first split beam directed towards a deflector and a second split beam, wherein the first split beam comprises a first beam diameter and a second beam diameter, the first beam diameter being greater than the second beam diameter, and the second split beam comprises a third beam diameter and a fourth beam diameter, the third split beam diameter being greater than the fourth beam diameter; and a deflector configured to deflect the first split beam to intersect with the first split beam, wherein the first beam diameter and the third beam diameter are parallel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2023
    Assignee: Nordson Corporation
    Inventor: Jerome Joseph Dapore
  • Patent number: 11703318
    Abstract: A homodyne encoder system has adaptive matching of path lengths. Primary apertures receive light from a target. An optical spreader spreads apart the light passing through the primary apertures by at least a factor of two times a baseline separation of the primary apertures. The optical spreader includes a plurality of actuators for modifying the path lengths within the homodyne encoder system through the primary apertures to a detector. A focusing optic focuses the light from the optical spreader at the detector. The detector detects an image of the target with the light from the focusing optic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2022
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2023
    Assignee: United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
    Inventor: Kyle Robert Drexler
  • Patent number: 11703316
    Abstract: A Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) filter comprising one or more passive compensation structures are described. The passive compensation structures yield MZI filters that are intrinsically tolerant to perturbations in waveguide dimensions and/or other ambient conditions. The use of n+1 waveguide widths can mitigate n different sources of perturbation to the filter. The use of at least three different waveguide widths for each Mach-Zehnder waveguide can alleviate sensitivity of filter performance to random width or temperature variations. A tolerance compensation portion is positioned between a first coupler section and a second coupler section, wherein the tolerance compensation portion includes a first compensation section having a second width, a second compensation section having a third width and a third compensation section having a fourth width, wherein the fourth width is greater than the third width and the third width is greater than the second width.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2023
    Assignee: Psiquantum, Corp.
    Inventor: Koustuban Ravi
  • Patent number: 11692827
    Abstract: A white light interferometric fiber-optic gyroscope based on a rhombic optical path difference bias structure includes a laser, a rhombic optical path difference bias structure, a fiber coil and a photodetector. The white light interferometric fiber-optic gyroscope adopts an all-fiber structure to simplify the complexity of a gyroscope system and reduce the overall cost. A white light interferometric demodulation algorithm is used to realize linear output of rotation rate signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2023
    Assignee: DALIAN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
    Inventors: Zhenguo Jing, Wei Peng, Ang Li, Yueying Liu, Qiang Liu, Zhiyuan Huang, Yang Zhang
  • Patent number: 11692906
    Abstract: A method for determining geometrical parameters of a soft contact lens comprises the steps of providing an OCT imaging device comprising an OCT light source; providing a soft contact lens arranging the soft contact lens relative to the OCT imaging device so light coming from the OCT light source impinges on the back surface of the soft contact lens; generating a three-dimensional OCT image of the soft contact lens; from the three-dimensional OCT image determining a plurality of edge points located on the edge of the soft contact lens, connecting adjacent ones of the edge points by individual straight lines; summing up the lengths of all individual straight lines to a length U of the approximated circumference of the soft contact lens; from the length U determining a diameter D of the lens according to D=U/?.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2023
    Assignee: Alcon Inc.
    Inventor: Thomas Tonn
  • Patent number: 11686572
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides an OCT imaging system to reduce or eliminate frequency-domain aliasing artifacts. The frequency is shifted using a carrier frequency to define a sampling range substantially centered on the carrier frequency. An image of the sample is generated from a displayed imaging range that consists of a subset of the frequencies within the sampling range. Furthermore, the system may be configured to determine the carrier frequency such that a Nyquist frequency corresponding to the shifted frequency is extended beyond either an upper or a lower bound of an OCT quality envelope corresponding to the first portion of light. Additionally, the carrier frequency may be determined such that a lower bound of the OCT quality envelope is greater or less than a zero-frequency DC limit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2023
    Assignee: Ninepoint Medical, Inc.
    Inventors: Eman Namati, Muhammad Al-Qaisi, Matthew A. Sinclair, Benedikt Graf, David Vader
  • Patent number: 11684242
    Abstract: An imaging system for use in a patient is provided. The system includes an imaging probe, a rotation assembly, and a retraction assembly. The imaging probe collects image data from a patient site and includes an elongate shaft with a proximal end and a distal portion, with a lumen extending therebetween. A rotatable optical core is positioned within the elongate shaft lumen and an optical assembly is positioned in the elongate shaft distal portion. The optical assembly directs light to tissue at the patient site and collects reflected light from the tissue. The rotation assembly connects to the imaging probe and rotates the optical assembly. The retraction assembly connects to the imaging probe and retracts the optical assembly and the elongate shaft in unison.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2023
    Assignee: Gentuity, LLC
    Inventors: Christopher Petroff, Michael Atlas, Christopher Petersen, Christopher Battles, Jiyuan Yin, Nareak Douk, David W. Kolstad, Giovanni Ughi, Lindsy Peterson, J. Christopher Flaherty, R. Maxwell Flaherty
  • Patent number: 11668557
    Abstract: An inspection system is disclosed. In one embodiment, the inspection system includes an interferometer sub-system configured to acquire an interferogram of a sample. The inspection system may further include a controller communicatively coupled to the interferometer sub-system. The controller is configured to: receive the interferogram from the interferometer sub-system; generate a phase map of the sample based on the received interferogram, wherein the phase map includes a plurality of pixels; select a sub-set of pixels of the plurality of pixels of the phase map to be used for phase unwrapping procedures; perform one or more phase unwrapping procedures on the sub-set of pixels of the phase map to generate an unwrapped phase map; and generate a surface height map of the sample based on the unwrapped phase map.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2023
    Assignee: KLA Corporation
    Inventors: Helen (Heng) Liu, Guoqing Zhang
  • Patent number: 11662250
    Abstract: Described herein is a wavelength reference device comprising a housing defining an internal environment having a known temperature. A broadband optical source is disposed within the housing and configured to emit an optical signal along an optical path. The optical signal has optical power within a wavelength band of interest. An optical etalon is also disposed within the housing and positioned in the optical path to filter the optical signal to define a filtered optical signal that includes one or more reference spectral features having a known wavelength at the known temperature. The device also includes an optical output for outputting the filtered optical signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2023
    Assignee: II-VI DELAWARE, INC.
    Inventors: Michael John Laurence Cahill, Yang Li
  • Patent number: 11656080
    Abstract: An integrated photonics optical gyroscope fabricated on a silicon nitride (SiN) waveguide platform comprises (SiN) waveguide-based optical components that constitute a front-end chip to launch light into and receive light from the rotation sensing element, that can be a fiber spool. The SiN waveguide-based components can be distributed between multiple layers that are stacked together to have a multi-layer configuration vertically and evanescently coupled with each other. External elements (e.g., laser, detectors, phase shifter) may be made of different material platform than SiN and can be hybridly integrated or otherwise coupled to the SiN waveguide platform. The phase shifters can be made of electro-optic material, or piezo-electric material or can be thermal phase shifters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2023
    Assignee: Anello Photonics, Inc.
    Inventors: Mario Paniccia, Mike Horton