Abstract: Apparatuses and methods are described for controlling the thickness of glass during glass sheet production. The apparatuses and methods employ a laser beam to heat a particular portion of the molten glass. In some examples, a laser beam control system controls the laser beam to generate a more consistent glass thickness across the glass sheet. In some examples, the laser beam control system multiplexes the laser beam to heat various portions of the glass, for example, simultaneously.

Abstract: A method and device is capable of amplitude, phase, polarization shear, wavelength, and diversity measurement along a common path by using a sampling device to get a sparse sampled optical field. The sampled field is fed to a diversity generator device. The diversity generator device generates the diversity information associated with each sample/element of the sparse input in empty space provided by sampling. The diversity information may consist of phase-shifted copies of the input sample having known/device dependent relative phases, amplitudes, polarization, shear, or wavelength with respect to their originating sample. The geometry of the fan out allows overlap between part or all different diversity copies (originating from the same or from different samples) thus making the method interferometric.