Patent ID: 6369951
Filing Date: 2002-04-09
Classification: G01B,G02B

Abstract:
A beam splitter assembly for an interferometer adapted to split an incoming beam into at least one first outgoing beam and at least one second outgoing beam parallel to the at least one first beam, comprising:at least one beam splitter element, each of the at least one beam splitter elements further comprising a transparent plate having two parallel boundary surfaces, a first of the two boundary surfaces having a portion functioning as an at least partially reflective reflector surface, and a second of the two boundary surfaces having a portion functioning as a beam splitter surface; at least one compensating element disposed relative to the at least one beam splitter element so that the at least one first and second outgoing beams propagate parallel to one another, the at least one compensating element having dimensions adapted to provide a substantially identical optical path length in the at least one beam splitter element as in the at least one compensating element to the at least one first and second outgoing beams.