| 摘要 |
An exemplary optical system includes a first vacuum chamber and a second vacuum chamber having first and second portions. The first vacuum chamber contains an energy-beam source. The first vacuum-chamber portion contains a first optical-system portion that receives the beam from the source, and the second vacuum-chamber portion contains a second optical-system portion that receives the beam from the first optical-system portion. A first gate valve separates the first vacuum chamber and the first vacuum-chamber portion and provides, when open, communication between the first vacuum chamber and the first vacuum-chamber portion and a propagation pathway for the beam from the energy-beam source to the first optical-system portion. A second gate valve separates the first vacuum-chamber portion and the second vacuum-chamber portion and provides, when open, communication between the first vacuum-chamber portion and the second vacuum-chamber portion and a propagation pathway for the beam from the first optical-system portion to the second optical-system portion. The gate valves, when closed, allow pressure in the first vacuum-chamber portion to be changed without altering the pressures in the first vacuum chamber and the second vacuum-chamber portion.
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