Patent ID: 7618415

Claim:
A device for steering a laser beam to successive focal points on an x-y plane in a medium, wherein the medium defines an orthogonal x-y-z coordinate system, said device comprising: a laser source for directing the laser beam along a beam path toward the medium; a first scanning mechanism positioned on the beam path and rotating through an angle θ to move the laser beam in an x-direction on the x-y plane in the medium; a second scanning mechanism positioned on the beam path and rotating through an angle 2θ to compensate for movement of the laser beam in the x-direction on the x-y plane; a third scanning mechanism positioned on the beam path and rotating through an angle φ to move the laser beam in a y-direction on the x-y plane in the medium; a z-scanning apparatus for moving the focal point in a z-direction to establish the x-y plane; and a controller for concertedly controlling movements of said first, said second and said third scanning mechanisms, and said z-scanning apparatus, for steering the laser beam toward the successive focal points in the x-y plane in the medium.