Patent ID: 7746470

Claim:
An optical scanning device, comprising: a light source ( 2 ) to emit a beam of light ( 3 ); a beam splitter ( 5 , 15 ) to split said beam coming from the light source ( 2 ) into several beamlets ( 6 , 7 , 16 ); a first objective lens ( 9 ) to focus said beamlets ( 6 , 7 , 16 ) onto a focal plane ( 10 ) wherein at least two of said beamlets ( 6 , 7 , 16 ) impinge on the focal plane ( 10 ) spatially separated from each other; and a second objective lens ( 11 ) to direct light generated in the focal plane ( 10 ) by said beamlets ( 6 , 7 , 16 ) to a detection means ( 12 ); wherein the beam splitter comprises several birefringent elements ( 5 , 15 ) for splitting said beam coming from said light source ( 2 ) into said several beamlets ( 6 , 7 , 16 ); and the interference of said beamlets ( 6 , 7 , 16 ) at the time of detection is negligible.