ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 12 -- United States Patent no. 12,704,667, issued on Aug. 11, was assigned to Raytheon Co. (Arlington, Va.).
"Beam combining grating with integrated apodizer" was invented by Bradley A. Mitchell (Dallas) and Hannan S. Orrell (Van Alstyne, Texas).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An apparatus includes an optical surface configured to receive multiple input optical beams. The optical surface includes a grating configured to diffract first portions of the input optical beams in a first direction to form a combined optical beam. The grating is also configured to reflect second portions of the input optical beams in a second direction. The optical surface also includes a reflecti...