Patent ID: 7009141

Claim:
A laser scanning head comprising: at least one first refractive optical prism mounted to rotate in azimuth about an intersecting rotation axis centered on and transverse to both prism faces, said prism characterized by a selected refractive index and a selected prism angle disposed between said faces; said intersecting axis and said prism faces defining thereby a deflection angle diverging in elevation angle from said rotation axis in reference plane, wherein said reference plane contains said rotation axis and intersects perpendicular to both faces, said deflection angle characterized by said prism angle and said refractive index in accordance with Snell's Law, said reference plane and said deflection angle thereby rotating in synchrony with rotation of said prism about said axis; an optical connection oriented to direct input radiant energy from an input laser beam with said beam's principal axis directed coaxial with said rotating axis and said energy is incident on a proximal one of said faces along said rotating axis, in which said incident radiant energy input, forms refracted radiant energy by transmission through said prism as a secondary laser beam disposed according to said deflection angle and said prism rotation; a motion control mechanism coupled to rotate said prism by an azimuth displacement angle of 2 pi radian about said rotation axis; wherein said rotation of said prism by an azimuth displacement angle of 2 pi radian around said rotation axis by said driving mechanism causes said secondary laser beam to rotate in synchrony with said azimuth to define a conical locus centered on said axis of rotation coincident with said axis and displacing a solid angle of twice said deflection angle.