Patents by Inventor Carlton E. Thomas

Carlton E. Thomas 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: 4657721
    Abstract: A system for illuminating a tiny target of fusion fuel with energy from a laser source to achieve uniform surface heat leading to fusion including a laser light source with a beam splitter to provide two laser beams directed to a common target point and a pair of identical ellipsoidal mirrors facing each other concavely and positioned to have a common reflective focal point, the mirrors each being coaxially and centrally apertured to pass respective laser beams to the other and opposed mirrors of said pair wherein reflected energy will be directed normal to and distributed around the surface of a spherical target located at the common spherical focus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 1978
    Date of Patent: April 14, 1987
    Assignee: KMS Fusion, Inc.
    Inventor: Carlton E. Thomas
  • Patent number: 4161351
    Abstract: An all-reflective optical system for providing illumination of a target focal region at high numerical aperture from a pair of confluent collimated light beams. The collimated beams are each incident upon an associated concave eccentric pupil paraboloidal reflective surface, and thereby each focused through an opening in an associated outer ellipsoidal reflective surface onto a plane reflector. Each beam is reflected by its associated plane reflector onto the opposing concave surface of the outer ellipsoids to be focused through an opening in the plane surface onto an opposing inner concave ellipsoidal reflective surface, and thence onto the target region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 1976
    Date of Patent: July 17, 1979
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Department of Energy
    Inventors: Carlton E. Thomas, Robert D. Sigler, John G. Hoeger