What is claimed is:
1. An arrangement for the optical detection of a moving target flow for pulsed energy beam pumped radiation generation based on a plasma in which a target generator is provided for generating a target flow advancing along a path and an energy beam for plasma generation is directed to a defined interaction point of the path of the target flow, this interaction point being located in a vacuum chamber for plasma generation, comprising:
said target generator providing a target flow of moving material with relatively constant target states in the interaction point;
said target flow having, at least in a recurring manner over time, identical conditions for the generation of plasma for radiation emission;
a sensor unit being provided for observation of the position of the target flow at a detection point which lies at a short distance from the interaction point on the path;
said sensor unit being provided for illuminating the target flow moving past with transmission light and for receiving proportions of the transmission light that are reflected at a portion of the illuminated target flow;
said sensor unit containing a detection module and a projection module, wherein the projection module having means for focusing the transmission light onto the detection point in the target flow, so that transmission light which is reflected from the detection point is received simultaneously by the projection module and is directed to the detection module;
said detection module being arranged at a spatial distance from the projection module so as to be shielded from interfering influences from plasma generation and resulting radiation; and
a light waveguide being provided between the detection module and projection module for transmitting transmission light and optical signals resulting from reflected portions of the transmission light at the target flow passing the detection point.
2. The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the target flow is a flow of discrete liquid drops, wherein the projection module is oriented in lateral and longitudinal direction with the detection point to the middle path of the drops for detecting the drops.
3. The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the target flow is a flow of discrete solid, frozen targets.
4. The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the target flow is a continuous liquid jet.
5. The arrangement according to claim 4, wherein the projection module is directed with its detection point to the center of the target flow for detection of lateral variations.
6. The arrangement according to claim 4, wherein the projection module is directed with its detection point to an edge area of the target flow for detecting lateral variations.
7. The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the projection module is arranged with its optical axis substantially orthogonal to the direction of the path of the target flow and essentially different than the direction of the axis of the energy beam, said energy beam being preferably an excitation laser.
8. The arrangement according to claim 7, wherein the projection module is arranged with its optical axis essentially orthogonal to the direction of the axis of the excitation laser.
9. The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the projection module has focusing optical elements for coupling the transmission light out of the light waveguide and for focusing on a spatial region having a smaller extent than the lateral dimension of the target flow.
10. The arrangement according to claim 9, wherein the projection module has focusing optics with a focal length of a few centimeters and a numerical aperture that is selected in such a way that a focus of the transmission light generated by the focusing optics in the detection point is smaller than the diameter of the target flow and proportions of the transmission light reflected by the latter are received.
11. The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the projection module is directed with its optical axis to a detection point which is at a distance along the path of the target flow of several millimeters to several centimeters from the interaction point of the excitation laser beam, wherein the optimal distance from the interaction point must be adjusted as a compromise between desired economical compactness of the projection module and the necessary accuracy of position determination of the target at the interaction point.
12. The arrangement according to claim 11, wherein the optical axis of the projection module is at a distance of several centimeters to decimeters from the interaction point, wherein, for a relatively large distance from the interaction point such as this, the projection module has simple focusing optics with a short focal length and a defined numerical aperture, so that a high resolution of the target position is possible at a short distance from the detection point.
13. The arrangement according to claim 11, wherein the optical axis of the projection module is at a distance of only a few millimeters from the interaction point, wherein, at such a short distance from the interaction point, the projection module has focusing optics with a long target-side focal length of several centimeters but the same numerical aperture as with short focal length positioning, so that exacting focusing optics are provided for a high resolution of the target position at a great distance from the detection point.
14. The arrangement according to claim 11, wherein the projection module is directed with its optical axis to the target jet in a detection point in front of the interaction point.
15. The arrangement according to claim 11, wherein the projection module is directed with its optical axis to the target jet in a detection point after the interaction point.
16. The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the detection module has optical elements for generating the transmission light, for coupling the transmission light into the light waveguide and for coupling the transmission light out of the light waveguide, optical components for separating proportions of the transmission light that are reflected or backscattered in the detection point as optical measurement signals, and an optoelectronic detector for converting the optical measurement signal into an electric signal.
17. The arrangement according to claim 16, wherein the optical component for separating the optical measurement signal is a light waveguide with integrated direction-dependent signal splitting, particularly a fiber-optic circulator.
18. The arrangement according to claim 16, wherein the optical component for separating the optical measurement signal is a polarization-optical beam splitter, wherein the transmission light is linearly polarized.
19. The arrangement according to claim 18, wherein a polarization-preserving fiber is provided as light waveguide between the detection module and projection module.
20. The arrangement according to claim 18, wherein the detection module has an additional half-wave plate for adjustment of the polarization plane.
21. The arrangement according to claim 16, wherein the detection module contains an additional spectral filter element with high transmission for the optical measurement signal reflected by the target flow and a high blocking effect for scattered light originating from the laser beam and plasma.
22. The arrangement according to claim 16, wherein a continuous transmission light source with a collimated light bundle is provided for generating the transmission light.
23. The arrangement according to claim 22, wherein the transmission light source has a wavelength which is different than the wavelength of the excitation laser.
24. The arrangement according to claim 22, wherein the transmission light source is a waveguide-coupled luminescent diode, preferably a fiber-coupled luminescent diode.
25. The arrangement according to claim 22, wherein the transmission light source is a fiber laser.
26. The arrangement according to claim 22, wherein the transmission light source is a multimode laser diode.
27. The arrangement according to claim 22, wherein the transmission light source is a short pulse laser with a high repetition rate.
28. The arrangement according to claim 25, wherein the light waveguide between the detection module and the projection module uses a single-mode fiber, so that only one fundamental mode of the laser radiation used as transmission light can be transmitted.
29. The arrangement according to claim 18, wherein rotatable wedge plates are provided in the detection module for orienting the transmission light bundle before entering the light waveguide.
30. The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the detection module is connected via the output of its detector to an electronic circuit for amplifying and processing the electric signal converted from the reflected optical signals and for generating a synchronization signal.
31. The arrangement according to claim 30, wherein the electronic circuit communicates with the pulsed energy beam source for generating a synchronization signal.
32. The arrangement according to claim 30, wherein the electronic circuit communicates with the target generator for generating a synchronization signal.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method of determining a location of a medical device, comprising:
receiving, over a first communication connection, one or more signals at the medical device transmitted by one or more beacons, respectively, at known locations;
sending, over a second communication connection different from the first communication connection, from the medical device the received one or more signals to a processor; and
determining, by the processor, the location of the medical device based on the received one or more signals.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the one or more signals transmitted by the one or more beacons, respectively, are coded with a unique ID.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining comprises:
when a plurality of signals are received at the medical device, measuring a signal strength of each of the plurality of received signals; and
triangulating the location of the medical device based on the measured signal strengths and the unique IDs of each of the plurality of received signals.
4. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining comprises:
if a plurality of signals are received at the medical device, triangulating the location of the medical device based and the respective unique IDs of each of the plurality of received signals.
5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
receiving, over the first communication connection, a signal at the medical device transmitted by a portable patient beacon;
sending, over the second communication connection, the received signal transmitted by the portable patient beacon to the processor; and
determining, by the processor, a location of the portable patient beacon, based on the determined location of the medical device.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein all of the one or more beacons transmit using the same frequency.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more beacons are portable such that the relative positioning of the one or more beacons is reconfigurable.
8. The method of claim 1, further comprising periodically powering up a receiver at the medical device and sending currently received signals transmitted by one or more beacons to the processor.
9. The method of claim 1, further comprising recording determined locations of the medical device.
10. The method of claim 5, further comprising reducing a strength of the signal transmitted by the portable patient beacon to limit a range thereof.
11. A system for determining a location of a medical device, comprising:
one or more transmitting units at known locations to transmit one or more signals, respectively;
a receiver at the medical device to receive the one or more signals over a first communication connection; and
a transceiver, communicatively coupled to the receiver, to send the received one or more signals to a processor over a second communication connection different from the first communication connection, the processor determining the location of the medical device based on the received one or more signals.
12. The system of claim 11, wherein each of the one or more signals transmitted by the one or more transmitting units, respectively, are coded with a unique ID.
13. The system of claim 12, wherein the processor is configured to:
when a plurality of signals are received by the receiver, measure a signal strength of each of the plurality of received signals; and
triangulate the location of the medical device based on the measured signal strengths and respective unique IDs of each of the plurality of received signals.
14. The system of claim 12, wherein the processor is configured to, if a plurality of signals are received at the receiver, triangulate the location of the medical device based on the respective unique IDs of each of the plurality of received signals.
15. The system of claim 11, further comprising:
a portable patient beacon to transmit a signal received by the receiver, wherein the transceiver sends the signal to the processor, over the second communication connection, to determine a location of the portable patient beacon, based on the determined location of the medical device.
16. The system of claim 11, wherein all of the one or more transmitting units are configured to transmit using the same frequency.
17. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more transmitting units are portable such that the relative positioning of the one or more transmitting units is reconfigurable.
18. The system of claim 11, wherein the receiver is configured to periodically power up and communicate with the transceiver to send currently received signals transmitted by one or more transmitting units to the processor.
19. The system of claim 11, further comprising a memory configured to record determined locations of the medical device.
20. The system of claim 15, wherein a strength of the signal transmitted by the portable patient beacon is reducible to limit a range thereof.
21. An apparatus for determining a location of one or more items within an institution, comprising:
one or more beacons at known locations transmitting one or more signals, respectively;
a receiver at an item receiving the one or more signals over a first communication connection;
a transceiver sending the received one or more signals to a processor over a second communication connection different from the first communication connection, the processor determining the location of the item based on the received one or more signals; and
a portable patient beacon transmitting a signal received by the receiver, wherein the transceiver sends the signal transmitted by the portable patient beacon to the processor to determine a location of the portable patient beacon, based on the determined location of the item.