US3710279A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Apparatuses for trapping and accelerating neutral particles
Assignee: AT&T Inc
•
Filing: 1969-12-15
•
Granted: 1973-01-09
•
Expires: 1989-12-15
Abstract
Abstract There is disclosed a variety of apparatuses for controlling by radiation pressure the motion of a particle free to move with respect to its environment, based on the discovery that one or more beams of optical radiation can have frequency, diverging shape or intensity selected for a controlled radiation-pressure interaction with the particle that overpowers gravity and collision effects of atoms and molecules and overpowers any photophoresis interaction of the particle and its environment due to a heating effect of said particle upon its environment. The disclosed results of the effect of the radiation pressure on the motion of the particle include controllably heating the particle to provide a black-body point light source, bombardment of a sample target with such particles, very high energy particle acceleration, strong-focusing acceleration of a neutral particle, isotope separation, gas pumping, separation of particles by size, population inversion based on radiation-pressure separation of excited species, vacuum deposition of thin films from ultrapure particles controllably vaporized while held by radiation pressure, tensile-strength testing of materials based on the radiation-pressure effect of circularly polarized light, contaminant-free trapping or bottling of neutral gases, molecular beam separation and deflection, acceleration measurement for inertial guidance and measurement of very low gas pressures.
Inventors
- 👤 A Ashkin
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-23 03:53
CPC Classifications
B; B01; B01D; B01D59/00; B01D59/34; C; C23; C23C; C23C14/00; C23C14/22; C23C14/24; C23C14/28; G; G01; G01N; G01N24/00; G01N24/006; G01P; G01P15/00; G01P15/02; G01P15/08; G01P3/00; G01P3/36; G01P3/366; G21; G21K; G21K1/00; H; H01; H01J; H01J49/00; H01J49/02; H01J49/10; H01S; H01S3/00; H01S3/0007; H01S3/05; H01S3/08; H05; H05H; H05H3/00; H05H3/02; H05H3/04; G01N30/00; G01N30/02
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 7
Claim 1
Independent Claim
164 words
Apparatus of the type including a plurality of particle species, means for containing said particle species, and means for supplying to said species a traveling wave of coherent optical radiation, one of said plurality of species experiencing greater radiation pressure than another of said species at the frequency of said travelling wave, said apparatus being characterized in that said containing means has an axis along which it is substantially elongated and has a first region of restricted lateral extent along said axis and second and third regions of less restricted lateral extent than said first region on opposite sides of said first region along said axis, and said supplying means comprises a source of said optical wave and means for directing said optical wave along said axis through said third region toward said second region and for substantially filling said first region of restricted lateral extent, whereby said beam exerts pressure on said one species to concentrate said one species in said second region.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
164 words
Apparatus of the type including a plurality of particle species, means for containing said particle species, and means for supplying to said species a traveling wave of coherent optical radiation, one of said plurality of species experiencing greater radiation pressure than another of said species at the frequency of said travelling wave, said apparatus being characterized in that said containing means has an axis along which it is substantially elongated and has a first region of restricted lateral extent along said axis and second and third regions of less restricted lateral extent than said first region on opposite sides of said first region along said axis, and said supplying means comprises a source of said optical wave and means for directing said optical wave along said axis through said third region toward said second region and for substantially filling said first region of restricted lateral extent, whereby said beam exerts pressure on said one species to concentrate said one species in said second region.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
76 words
Apparatus of the type claimed in claim 1 in which the containing means includes in the second region a reservoir of the plurality of particle species said reservoir having a less restricted lateral extent than said first region and includes in the third region a vacuum chamber including means for removing the other particle species from said third region, and said frequency is selected to produce a resonance radiation interaction with only the one particle species.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
55 words
Apparatus of the type claimed in claim 2 in which the containing means includes a fourth region of restricted lateral extent between said first region and said second region and said directing means includes means between said first region and said fourth region for focusing the optical traveling wave substantially to fill said fourth region.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
147 words
ApparAtus of the type claimed in claim 2 in which the reservoir of the plurality of particle species includes a gas and means for establishing a discharge through the gas to populate an excited state in a first portion of said gas, said first portion being the other particle species which does not have the resonant absorption for the optical traveling wave and therefore can diffuse through said first region through said removing means and have a population inversion created therein, the remainder of said gas being the first particle species which has said resonant absorption for said optical traveling wave and therefore is retained in said reservoir away from said first region, said apparatus being characterized by means for stimulating the emission of coherent radiation from said first portion of said gas along an axis intersecting the axis of the containing means in the first region.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
93 words
Apparatus of the type claimed in claim 1 in which the first region of the containing means comprises means for waveguiding the traveling wave of optical radiation while admitting the passage of the plurality of particle species, the third region of the containing means comprises a reservoir of the plurality of particle species, and the plurality of particle species includes particles of varying radiation pressure cross sections ranging up to a cross section of the one particle species which cross secton enables the transport of said one particle species through said waveguiding means.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
45 words
Apparatus of the type claimed in claim 5 in which the smallest cross-sectional dimension of the plurality of particle species is substantially larger than the wavelength of the applied radiation and said particles have no resonance radiation interactions with the traveling wave of optical radiation.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1976-01-09 | 1976-07-10 | 1977-01-09 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1980-01-09 | 1980-07-10 | 1981-01-09 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 1984-01-09 | 1984-07-10 | 1985-01-09 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |