Diffractive monitor and system

摘要

A monitor for a light beam creates a monitor beam by deflecting a portion of the application beam and further manipulating the monitor beam and/or the application beam to allow more efficient use thereof. For example, the monitor beam may be collimated to allow an increase in spacing between the device outputting the light beam and a detector for sensing the monitor beam. Alternatively or additionally, the monitor beam may be focused to allow use of a smaller detector and of a smaller percentage of the application beam. The diffractive element deflecting the beam may be either transmissive or reflective. The additionally manipulation of the monitor beam and/or the application beam may be provided by the same diffractive element which deflects the beam, which is particularly useful when the diffractive element is reflective, and/or by additional optical elements.