Integrated Visible Pilot Beam for Non-Visible Optical Waveguide Devices
In one embodiment, a radiation based analysis system comprises a first radiation source to generate first radiation having a wavelength outside the visible spectrum, a second radiation source to generate second radiation having a wavelength within the visible spectrum, and a waveguide coupler to couple a portion of the first radiation and a portion of the second radiation into a combined radiation beam such that the first radiation and the second radiation follow a path that is substantially coaxial.
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This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/890,593, filed Feb. 19, 2007, entitled INTEGRATED VISIBLE PILOT BEAM FOR NON-VISIBLE OPTICAL WAVEGUIDE DEVICES, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
BACKGROUNDThe subject matter described herein relates generally to optics, and more particularly to optical waveguide components and systems.
Radiation-based measurement tools such as, e.g., interferometers, surface analyzers, and the like may use radiation outside the spectrum that is normally visible to the unassisted human eye. The use of radiation having a wavelength outside the visible spectrum, or in a location of reduced sensitivity, creates particular challenges in using a measurement tool. For example, interferometers may require a specific alignment between the interferometer and an object or surface being analyzed. Similarly, other surface scanning devices may require a specific alignment or orientation between one or more tools and an object. The absence of visible light creates particular difficulties with assembly, setup, and operation of the device.
Tools such as, e.g., infrared viewers, alone or in combination with cameras or video systems, may be used to align an infrared beam. However, this technique requires additional equipment and is more time consuming than aligning a visible beam.
Hence, additional systems and methods to align radiation-based inspection systems may find utility.
Described herein are exemplary systems and methods for causing visible and invisible optical beams to travel along the same waveguide so that an instrument may use an invisible beam to perform a useful measurement while the visible beam allows the approximate path and destination of the invisible beam to be readily visualized by the user. Throughout this document, terms like light, optical, optics, rays and beams with reference to electromagnetic radiation will be used with no implication that the radiation is or is not in the visible portion of the spectrum. The visible spectrum will be used to refer to the wavelength range within which radiation is visible to the human eye.
In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of various embodiments. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the various embodiments may be practiced without the specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, components, and circuits have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the particular embodiments.
In some embodiments, the distance between parallel rays, angle of incidence upon entering the slab and thickness of the slab may be selected such that the first beam 110 and the second beam 115 exit the slab 120 at substantially the same location and along substantially the same path. Thus, slab 120 essentially combines the first beam 110 and the second beam 115 into a single beam 130 having a first component that is within the visible spectrum and a second component that is outside the visible spectrum. The first component and the second component are substantially coaxial. As used herein, the phrase “substantially coaxial” should be construed liberally, consistent with requirements of practical optical engineering applications, rather than strictly in accordance with theoretical definitions of the term “coaxial.” Thus, minor deviations in the direction of outputs generated by input beams 110 and 115 may be accommodated as being within normal engineering tolerances.
Thus, in the embodiment depicted in
Such beam combining slabs are of limited utility because for reasonable thicknesses (e.g., approximately 10 millimeters), and at non-glancing incidence angles (e.g.,) 45°, the two input beams 110, 115 may be separated by a very small distance, (i.e., several tens of microns).
With the development of waveguide optics, it is possible to perform complex optical operations in more confined spaces. However, it is not possible for the free space techniques described in
The specific performance characteristics of an evanescent coupler depend on the optical properties (i.e., the indices of refraction) of the material from which it is constructed, the wavelength(s) of the radiation being coupled, and the various dimensions of the waveguides. Evanescent couplers may be manufactured by bringing optical waveguides in close physical proximity (i.e., less than or on the order of a few wavelengths of the radiation being coupled). For fiber waveguides, careful local melting or fusing of the separate waveguides establishes the needed coupling proximity. Alternatively, waveguides may be manufactured by lithographically defining proximal waveguide paths on a planar waveguide “chip”.
In many instances, evanescent couplers are referred to by a “through:cross” nomenclature that specifies a ratio of the radiation that remains on the original waveguide to the radiation that is coupled to the opposing waveguide. Thus, an evanescent coupler that transmits substantially all the radiation from the first waveguide 310 to the second waveguide 315 may be referred to as a 0:100 coupler. These ratios are sometimes referred to as through-to-cross ratios, or coupling ratios. In this document, coupling ratios will be indicated for the operating wavelength of the instrument in which the coupler is employed (e.g. infrared). The couplers will be designed so that the shorter wavelengths (e.g. visible) will experience negligible coupling, and therefore this coupling ratio does not need to be specified.
In an alternate embodiment, the radiation on the first waveguide 310 is in the visible portion of the spectrum and the radiation on the second waveguide 315 is shorter than visible (e.g. ultraviolet). In such a case the interaction region may be altered to allow visible radiation to transition from first waveguide 310 to second waveguide 315. Visible and ultraviolet light both emerge towards the right on the lower waveguide 315.
Because of the many physical mechanisms and embodiments possible to couple light from one waveguide to another, it is not possible in the most general sense to indicate that light entering a coupler function on a particular waveguide will exit that same physical waveguide at the output of the coupler. For this reason, the wavelength combining coupler function will be schematically illustrated as shown in
In some embodiments, waveguide couplers which combine radiation having a wavelength within the visible spectrum and radiation that is outside the visible spectrum may be combined with a radiation based analysis tool to provide a visual indication of the location of the tool's invisible beam. For example, in one embodiment waveguide couplers may be employed as part of an interferometer that utilizes radiation having a wavelength outside the visible spectrum.
The waveguide topology show in
The combined visible and invisible radiation is input to the interferometer 610 on a third waveguide 628. The combined visible and invisible radiation propagates through the interferometer and a portion of each form the working beam of the interferometer 610, thereby providing a visual indication of the target area of the working beam of the interferometer.
With modifications to the embodiment depicted in
The combined visible and invisible radiation is input to the interferometer 710 on a third waveguide 728. The combined visible and invisible radiation propagates through the interferometer and exits as the working beam of the interferometer 710, thereby providing a visual indication of the target area of the working beam of the interferometer.
Waveguide assembly 700 further includes a third waveguide 742 coupled to a visible radiation source. In the embodiment depicted in
Radiation from a visible radiation source such as a visible laser 620 is injected onto a waveguide 624. Waveguides 612 and 624 are coupled to a waveguide coupler 626, which may be embodied as an evanescent waveguide coupler as described with reference to
In some embodiments, additional radiation generated by another visible laser 630 may be output onto another waveguide 634, which is coupled to the waveguide that carries the reference beam output from interferometer 610, thereby providing a visual indication of the target area of the reference beam of the interferometer. Alternatively, interferometer assembly 600 may use radiation from a single visible laser to illuminate both the working and reference beam paths. To enable this, the output the visible laser may be split using a beam splitter or a visible evanescent coupler.
Thus, described herein are various interferometer assemblies and techniques to combine a visible radiation beam with a non-visible radiation beam used in interferometer assemblies. While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to a preferred embodiment and various alternate embodiments, it will be understood by persons skilled in the relevant art that various changes in form and details can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to a preferred embodiment and various alternate embodiments, it will be understood by persons skilled in the relevant art that various changes in form and details can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
Thus, although embodiments have been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that claimed subject matter may not be limited to the specific features or acts described. Rather, the specific features and acts are disclosed as sample forms of implementing the claimed subject matter.
Claims
1. An interferometer configured to emit a first radiation having a first wavelength outside the visible spectrum, and a second radiation having a second wavelength within the visible spectrum wherein the first and second radiations follow substantially the same path through the space in which unaided human vision is used to align the interferometer.
2. The interferometer of claim 1 wherein: the interferometer is a waveguide-based interferometer system configured to emit from a common waveguide the first radiation having a first wavelength outside the visible spectrum, and the second radiation having a second wavelength within the visible spectrum.
3. A radiation-based analysis system, comprising:
- a wavelength combining coupler comprising: a waveguide A configured to receive a first radiation having a first wavelength longer than any wavelength within the visible spectrum; a waveguide B configured to receive a second radiation having a second wavelength within the visible spectrum; an interaction region where the first and second radiations are at least partially combined; at least one output waveguide selected from the group consisting of waveguides (A′ and B′) carrying the combined radiations, and an interferometer configured to receive the first and second radiations selected from the group consisting of waveguides (A′ and B′) and configured to direct at least a portion of the first and second radiations onto a measurement beam of the interferometer.
4. The radiation-based analysis system of claim 3, wherein the first wavelength is selected from the range seven hundred eighty nanometers to fourteen thousand nanometers.
5. The radiation-based analysis system of claim 3, wherein the second wavelength is selected from the range four hundred nanometers to seven hundred fifty nanometers.
6. The radiation-based analysis system of claim 3, wherein the termination of the waveguide not connected to the interferometer function block is configured to prevent significant amounts of remaining first and second radiations from propagating back in the directions from which they came.
7. The radiation-based analysis system of claim 3, wherein the interaction region is configured to produce evanescent coupling.
8-12. (canceled)
13. A method of operating an interferometer assembly, comprising:
- receiving, in a first waveguide, a first radiation having a wavelength outside the visible spectrum;
- receiving, in a second waveguide, a second radiation having a wavelength within the visible spectrum;
- directing radiation from the first waveguide to an interferometer, wherein the interferometer is adapted to generate two measurement beams from the first radiation; and
- coupling a portion of the second radiation to at least one of the measurement beams of the interferometer.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein coupling a portion of the second radiation to at least one of the two measurement beams comprises directing the first radiation and the second radiation through an evanescent interaction region.
15. The method of claim 13, further comprising directing a portion of the first radiation and the second radiation onto at least one of the two measurement beams.
16. The method of claim 13, further comprising:
- directing the first radiation on the first waveguide to an interferometer; and
- coupling a portion of the second radiation to the first radiation which exits the interferometer as at least one of the two measurement beams.
Type: Application
Filed: Feb 3, 2011
Publication Date: May 26, 2011
Applicant: KLA-TENCOR CORPORATION (Milpitas, CA)
Inventor: David R. Peale (San Diego, CA)
Application Number: 13/020,372
International Classification: G01B 9/02 (20060101);