Patent ID: 7539232

Claim:
An electro-optical system, comprising: one or more electromagnetic gain media adapted to provide energy; a plurality of apertures coupled to the one or more electronic gain media, wherein said plurality of apertures has a predetermined spatial distribution, and wherein the plurality of apertures is adapted to emit the energy; and an optical system comprising: at least one refracting surface disposed to intercept the energy emitted from the plurality of apertures; and a reflecting surface disposed to direct at least a portion of the energy intercepted by the at least one refracting surface back toward the plurality of apertures, wherein the reflecting surface is disposed at a predetermined distance from the one or more apertures, wherein the one or more lenses, positions of the one or more lenses, and the predetermined distance are selected to result in a Fourier pattern of the energy emitted from the plurality of apertures, and to result in the Fourier pattern being overlaid back onto selected ones of the plurality of apertures, wherein the optical system is configured to reflect back to the plurality of apertures substantially the same pattern of energy that would be achieved when the at least one refracting surface is a single lens and when the single lens and the reflecting surface are both spaced from the plurality of apertures by approximately one half of a focal length of the lens.