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19 Nov 2002
The pick of this week's hottest patent applications including a way to improve the lifetime of a laser system.
• Title: Algorithm for enhancing the lifetime of critical components in a laser system
Applicant: Spectra Physics, US
International application number: WO 02/091075
Is the lifetime of your laser suffering as a result of constant degradation of the non-linear crystal? This may not be an annoyance for much longer thanks to a set of algorithms being developed by laser-giant Spectra Physics. The algorithms scan the laser spot over the crystal's surface in a predetermined pattern. The patent says the algorithms can be customized to the each system and application. This function could be particularly useful when frequency-doubling the output from high-repetition rate, diode-pumped laser systems.
• Title: Animal training method and device
Applicant: Joseph Brown and Jeffrey Habib, US
International application number: WO 02/089698
Is your dog a nuisance to train? Are you fed up shouting and losing your voice to keep your dog in line? Relief could soon be at your fingertips in the form of a pain-free training device detailed in patent WO 02/089698. The trainer comprises a lens and an electro-optic shutter that is placed in the animal's field of vision, similar to putting on a pair of glasses. When the animal is behaving itself, the shutter is kept open. But when it is creating mischief, the owner can close the shutter and effectively blindfold the dog. The owner can re-open the shutter and continue training the animal when it has calmed down.
• Title: Light emitting apparatus
Applicant: Kansai Technology Licensing Organization, Japan
International application number: WO 02/091487
A Japanese company has come up with a way of making the emission from white LEDs look whiter. Currently, white LEDs combine the emission of a blue LED with a YAG phosphor that emits in the yellow. But this tends to give a white emission with a slight green tinge. Now, by adding europium ions that emit in the red to the device, the company says the overall effect is to produce a high-color rendering white light source. According to the patent, this could be used for automobile parts as a lightweight, compact and long-life luminous element.
• Title: Glare blocking device
Applicant: Reveo, US
International application number: WO 02/089714
Unwanted glare in images could be a thing of the past, thanks to an idea described in application WO 02/089714. As light passes through the glare-blocking device, pixels with controllable transmittance selectively reduce the intensity of the incident light. A processor applies the changes to the pixels before the incident rays head towards a sensor or optical detector. As well as reducing glare, the patent says this will also minimize any interfering light from other sources.
Author
Jacqueline Hewett is news reporter on Optics.org and Opto & Laser Europe magazine.
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