| US 7,485,847 B2 | ||
| Displacement sensor employing discrete light pulse detection | ||
| Fahrettin Levent Degertekin, Decatur, Ga. (US); Wook Lee, Atlanta, Ga. (US); and Neal Allen Hall, Albuquerque, N. Mex. (US) | ||
| Assigned to Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta, Ga. (US) | ||
| Filed on Dec. 08, 2005, as Appl. No. 11/297,097. | ||
| Claims priority of provisional application 60/634324, filed on Dec. 08, 2004. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2006/0227845 A1, Oct. 12, 2006 | ||
| Int. Cl. G01D 5/36 (2006.01); G02B 27/42 (2006.01); G02B 5/18 (2006.01); G01J 1/32 (2006.01); G01B 11/02 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 250—237G [250/550; 250/205; 356/499; 359/572] | 10 Claims |
| 1. A sensor comprising:
a reflector positioned a distance from a reflective diffraction grating;
a light source for providing light, a first portion of the light being reflected from the reflective diffraction grating and
a second portion of the light passing through the grating to the reflector and being reflected back through the diffraction
grating;
at least a first detector configured to sense an intensity of light in an interference pattern formed by the first portion
of the light reflected from the diffraction grating and the second portion of the light reflected from the reflector and configured
to generate an output signal representative of the intensity of light in the interference pattern; and
a controller configured to cause the light source to generate a sequence of discrete light pulses directed to the reflector.
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