Abstract: The system of the present invention reports a signal related to a physical condition of an object, such as an electronic component, with the most basic realization of the system including a vacuum quill for releasably holding the object and a motion control system for rotating the quill. The invention includes control electronics coupled to the detector for providing a trigger signal where the detector is oriented to view a stripe in a viewing plane perpendicular to the central axis of the quill, and to provide an image of the stripe. The control electronics sends a plurality of trigger signals to the detector while the motion control system rotates the quill, with each trigger signal triggering the acquisition of another image of a stripe.

Abstract: The present invention includes a system for providing a signal related to a physical condition of an object, such as an electronic component. Various types of electronic components may be used with the present invention, including leaded components, column, pin or grid array packages, and the like. The system includes a quill for releasably holding the object. The object has a major surface defining a plane, and a motion control system for rotating the quill about a central axis. Control electronics in the invention provide a plurality of trigger signals to each of two detectors, each detector adapted to view the same stripe in the plane upon receipt of a trigger signal and to output an image of the stripe. The detectors view a plurality of stripes while the motion control system rotates the quill, and the output from the detectors is received by processing circuitry for processing the plurality of images of the stripes to provide the signal related to the physical condition of the object.

Abstract: A helmet mounted display uses a see-through visor holographic combiner to provide, in the normal field of view of a helicopter pilot, a pair of images derived from an image source such as a miniature cathode ray tube. A source of the video display may be an infrared sensor mounted on an external turret underneath the helicopter. The turret rotates in response to helmet movements so that the pilot is continually provided with a dual image from the CRT display which corresponds with the external scene as visible through the visor.

Abstract: A head-up display for use in a vehicle is provided with a curved combiner which reflects an image from a cathode ray tube (CRT) as collimated rays to a viewing site. A relay lens is positioned between the CRT and the combiner to magnify and transfer the image. The combiner may be a partially-reflecting mirror or holographic optical element or dielectric laminate. Included within the relay lens is a coma-control plate having two-dimensional undulations described mathematically by a two-dimensional power series having odd symmetry in a plane of a tilting of the combiner and even symmetry in the perpendicular dimension. The coma-control plate substantially reduces coma in an image presented for viewing at infinity, the coma being introduced by the curvature and off-axis use of a surface of the combiner.

Abstract: A shearing phase difference sensor including a high energy laser source for generating adjacent coherent light beam. Samples of the beams are extracted by an extracter and directed to an optical modifier. The optical modifier, positioned for intercepting the sample beams from the extracter, diffracts the beams and produces output beams which, in turn, are directed through a lens to a detector. The detector, positioned to intercept the output beams, produces electrical signals indicative of the output beams. The electrical signals are processed by a processor which calculates the phase difference between adjacent coherent light beams. Also, disclosed is a method for measuring the phase difference between adjacent coherent light beams.