Patent ID: 6700690
Filing Date: 2004-03-02
Classification: G01J,G02B

Abstract:
A tunable wavelength variable bandpass optical filter comprising:a first optical substrate; a second optical substrate; said first optical substrate coated with a multilayer interference coating such that the thickness of said multilayer interference coating varies linearly in at least one direction on said optical substrate; said second optical substrate coated with a multilayer interference coating such that the thickness of said multilayer interference coating varies linearly in at least one direction on said optical substrate; said first optical substrate and said second optical substrate aligned in parallel geometric planes to each other with the linear thickness variations of said multilayer interference coating of said first and second optical substrates pointing in the same direction thereby creating a filter pair; said filter pair being linearly moveable in unison through an incident collimated beam of light in order to vary the transmitted wavelength of said filter pair; and, said first optical substrate and said second optical substrate of said filter pair being individually moveable to create a relative positional change between said first optical substrate and said second optical substrate to vary the transmitted bandwidth of said filter pair.