Patent ID: 7262918

Claim:
An optical system for conditioning a beam of light comprised of a plurality of wavelengths and selecting from among the plurality of wavelengths for recombining into an output beam, comprising: a first plurality of N beam splitters comprising: a first beam splitter configured to receive the beam of light, provide a first output light beam, and provide a first internal light beam to a second beam splitter; N−2 beam splitters, each configured to receive an internal light beam from a first adjacent beam splitter, provide an output light beam, and provide an internal light beam to a second adjacent beam splitter; and a last beam splitter configured to receive an internal light beam from an adjacent beam splitter and provide a last output light beam; an array of filters, wherein each filter is configured to receive a corresponding one of the output light beams and pass through a beam having a single selected wavelength; and a second stack of beam splitters, each configured to receive a corresponding one of the single wavelength beams, wherein the second stack is configured to combine the single wavelength beams into a substantially single beam of light having the selected wavelengths.