Patent ID: 8625199

Claim:
A system, comprising: first and second curved reflecting devices; a beam splitter; and a parallel plate optical element, wherein the beam splitter and the parallel plate optical element are combined into a single element and the single element is configured to: reflect and shift a first portion of a beam that begins a cycle during which the beam travels through the system, and transmit a second portion of the beam to generate at least a portion of an output beam, wherein during the cycle the combined beam splitter and parallel plate optical element directs the first portion of the beam along a beam path between the first and second reflecting devices, such that the first portion of the beam traverses between the first and second reflecting devices more than once, and wherein the cycle ends after traversal between the first and second reflecting devices, such that a first part of the first portion of the beam is reflected by the beam splitter and exits the system to generate another portion of the output beam and a second part of the first portion of the beam is transmitted through the combined beam splitter and parallel plate optical element to repeat the cycle.