Importance

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Abstract

A portable scatterometer and/or an angular radiated light measurement instrument that uses a measurement head which includes a double tapered fiber optic bundle with a concave front face to simultaneously collect partial or full hemispherically scattered light reflected from a point on a surface illuminated by a depolarized, telescopically focused, laser diode source, the light rays being received by each fiber normal to its face. The image of the collected light beams is minified and coupled by the fiber optic bundle into an anti-blooming CID camera with an x-y scanning area array which converts the light beams to electrical signals. In a unique real time, computer-controlled data acquisition and reconstruction process, a frame grabber and a unique algorithm are used to collect over 200,000 points of light, reconstruct the data into a 2D or 3D scatter profile and display the results, all within one second. Multiple embodiments of the tapered fiber optic bundle collector include a full hemispherical version with the laser source directed through the boule, a unitary boule fused from two tapered halves, a linear in-plane tapered bundle and a partial taper with imaging lens mode. Alignment mechanisms provide z-translation, azimuth, and focus adjustments. The measurement unit is in a compact, rugged aluminum housing which is adapted to be secured to a production line machine for a variety of services, such as, a quality control inspection device.

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First Claim