1461111698-b2bcfa56-85de-4ef0-bb6d-aa50f1aebc94

What is claimed is:

1. An absorbent article comprising a main body including: a liquid-permeable surface sheet; a back sheet-; and an absorbent core sandwiched between said surface sheet and said back sheet, and two leakage preventing walls extending in the longitudinal direction of said main body and provided on two sides of said main body lying opposite one another in the widthwise direction thereof,
the overlap of said absorbent core and said surface sheet including: a main absorbent portion located between said two leakage preventing walls and at the center of said overlap in the widthwise direction; and two grooved portions formed by depressing said overlap and each located between said main absorbent portion and corresponding one of said two leakage preventing walls,
wherein the fiber density of the portion of said surface sheet forming said main absorbent portion, the fiber density of the portion of said surface sheet forming said grooved portion and the fiber density of said leakage preventing wall are related in the order of said grooved portion>said leakage preventing wall>said main absorbent portion.
2. The absorbent article as set forth in claim 1,
wherein each leakage preventing wall is formed by folding a sheet to have at least two free ends.
3. The absorbent article as set forth in claim 1,
wherein said leakage preventing wall is formed of a hydrophilic sheet or a hydrophobic sheet.
4. The absorbent article as set forth in claim 1,
which has two flaps extending outwardly of said absorbent core in the widthwise direction,
wherein two side sheets are provided on flap-forming portions of said back sheet and are individually folded at least one time to form said leakage preventing walls.
5. The absorbent article as set forth in claim 1,
wherein said leakage preventing wall has a height of 3 mm to 20 mm.
6. The absorbent article as set forth in claim 1,
wherein an elastically stretchable member is disposed in said leakage preventing wall and extends in the longitudinal direction.
7. The absorbent article as set forth in claim 1,
wherein said absorbent core and said surface sheet are thermally compressed at said grooved portion.
8. The absorbent article as set forth in claim 1,
wherein the portion of said surface sheet forming said main absorbent portion, the portion of said surface sheet forming said grooved portion, and said leakage preventing wall are made of different sheet materials, and
wherein if the fineness of fibers forming the portion of said surface sheet forming said main absorbent portion, the fineness of fibers forming said leakage preventing wall, and the fineness of fibers forming the portion of said surface sheet forming said grooved portion are designated by D1, D2 and D3, respectively, the individual finenesses are D12 to 6 dtex, D21.5 to 6 dtex, and D31 to 4.5 dtex, and have relations of D1<D2<D3.
9. The absorbent article as set forth in claim 1,
wherein fusible fibers contained in said surface sheet and said leakage preventing wall are thermo-compression bonded, and
wherein if the bonding area percentages in the portion of said surface sheet forming said main absorbent portion, in said leakage preventing wall, and in the portion of said surface sheet forming said grooved portion are designated by P1, P2 and P3, respectively, the individual percentages are within the ranges of P10 to 60%, P20 to 70%, and P30 to 80%, and have relations of P1<P2<P3.

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 device for reshaping a laser beam, comprising:
a first optical element to receive the laser beam; and
a second optical element to invert and reshape the laser beam to substantially correspond to an aperture of a beam director, wherein the laser beam is inverted and reshaped to have an un-illuminated central portion corresponding substantially to a central obscuration of the aperture of the beam director, the laser beam being inverted such that an interior portion of the laser beam becomes an exterior portion of the laser beam exiting the device and an exterior portion of the laser beam becomes an interior portion of the laser beam exiting the device and defines the un-illuminated central portion of the laser beam, and wherein the inverted and reshaped laser beam maintains substantially a maximum power and intensity of the original laser beam.
2. The device of claim 1, wherein the second optical element is adapted to invert and reshape the laser beam to provide substantially a minimal loss of power caused by the inverted and reshaped laser beam extending beyond the aperture of the beam director and to provide an optimum intensity at a target on which the inverted and reshaped laser beam is projected.
3. The device of claim 1, further comprising an axicon configured to invert the laser beam and then resize a resultant beam so that a ratio of an outer beam diameter to that of an un-illuminated central portion of the beam is about equal to or slightly greater tan the aperture of the beam director.
4. The device of claim 1, further comprising:
a first axicon configured to reshape a substantially square or rectangular laser beam with an illuminated central portion into a substantially circular laser beam; and
a second axicon configured to compact the incident beam from the first axicon and to substantially remove any illumination in a predetermined central portion of the circular laser beam, wherein the first optical element is positioned between the first axicon and the second axicon to direct the laser beam to the first axicon.
5. The device of claim 1, wherein the second optical element comprises:
a first reflector element to reflect the laser beam in a circular pattern from the first reflector;
a second reflector element to reflect the circular pattern laser beam from the first reflector element;
a third reflector element to reflect the circular pattern laser beam from the second reflector element; and
a fourth reflector element to reflect and reshape the circular pattern laser beam with a central portion corresponding substantially to the central obscuration of the aperture of the beam director.
6. The device of claim 1, wherein the first optical element and the second optical element are adapted to convert a square footprint of the laser beam to a circular footprint including a non-illuminated central portion.
7. The device of claim 1, wherein the first optical element and the second optical element are adapted to covert a plurality of laser beams to a single circular laser beam including a non-illuminated central portion.
8. A device for reshaping a laser beam, comprising:
a first optical element to receive the laser beam;
a second optical element to invert and reshape the laser beam to substantially correspond to an aperture of a beam director, wherein the second optical element comprises:
a first axicon configured to reshape a substantially square or rectangular laser beam with an illuminated central portion into a substantially circular laser beam; and
a second axicon configured to compact the incident beam from the first axicon and to substantially remove any illumination in a predetermined central portion of the circular laser beam, wherein the first axicon comprises:
a first axicon annular reflector, and a first axicon substantially cone-shaped reflector to reflect the laser beam to the first axicon annular reflector; and

wherein the second axicon comprises:
a second axicon substantially cone-shaped reflector including a central cylindrical opening; and
a second axicon annular reflector to reflect the laser beam from the first axicon annular reflector to the second axicon substantially cone-shaped reflector.
9. The device of claim 8, wherein the first axicon annular reflector and the second axicon annular reflector each comprise a right triangular cross-section configured at a complementary angle to each other and a reflective surface defined by a hypotenuse of the right triangular cross-section.
10. The device of claim 8, wherein the central cylindrical opening has a predetermined radius corresponding substantially to a radius of a central obscuration of the aperture of the beam director.
11. A device for reshaping a laser beam, comprising:
a first reflector element to reflect the laser beam in a circular pattern from the first reflector;
a second reflector element to reflect the circular pattern laser beam from the first reflector element;
a third reflector element to reflect the circular pattern laser beam from the second reflector element; and
a fourth reflector element to reflect and reshape the circular pattern laser beam with a central portion corresponding substantially to a central obscuration of an aperture of a beam director.
12. The device of claim 11, wherein the first reflector element comprises a substantially cone-shaped reflector and wherein the fourth reflector element comprises a substantially cone-shaped reflector including a central cylindrically shaped opening.
13. The device of claim 12, wherein the central cylindrically shaped opening comprises a predetermined radius corresponding substantially to a radius of the central obscuration of the aperture of the beam director.
14. The device of claim 11, wherein the second reflector element comprises an annular reflector including a reflective surface oriented to reflect the circular pattern laser beam from the first reflector element to the third reflector element.
15. The device of claim 14, wherein the third reflector element comprises an annular reflector including a reflective surface oriented to reflect the laser beam from the second reflector element to the fourth reflector element.
16. A system for reshaping a laser beam, comprising:
a laser source to generate the laser beam;
a beam director to project a reshaped laser beam on a target; and
an optical device to invert and reshape the laser beam to substantially correspond to an aperture of the beam director, wherein the laser beam is inverted and reshaped to have an un-illuminated central portion corresponding substantially to a central obscuration of the aperture of the beam director, the laser beam being inverted such that an interior portion of the laser beam becomes an exterior portion of the laser beam exiting the device and an exterior portion of the laser beam becomes an interior portion of the laser beam exiting the device and defines the un-illuminated central portion of the laser beam, and wherein the inverted and reshaped laser beam maintains substantially a maximum power and intensity of the original laser beam.
17. The system of claim 16, wherein the optical device comprises an axicon to invert and reshape the laser beam to provide substantially a minimal lose of power caused by the inverted and reshaped laser beam extending beyond the aperture of the beam director and to provide an optimum intensity at a target on which the inverted and reshaped laser beam is projected.
18. The system of claim 16, wherein the optical device comprises an axicon configured to invert the laser beam and then resize a resultant beam so that a ratio of an outer beam diameter to that of an un-illuminated central portion of the beam is about equal to or slightly greater than that of the aperture of the beam director.
19. The system of claim 16, wherein the optical device comprises:
a first axicon configured to reshape a substantially square or rectangular laser beam with an illuminated central portion into a substantially circular laser beam; and
a second axicon configured to substantially remove any illumination in a predetermined central portion of the circular laser beam.
20. The system of claim 16, wherein the optical device comprises:
a first axicon including:
a first axicon annular reflector;
a first axicon substantially cone-shaped reflector to reflect the laser beam to the first axicon annular reflector;

a second axicon including:
a second axicon substantially cone-shaped reflector including a central cylindrical opening between a base and an apex of the second axicon cone-shaped reflector; and
a second axicon annular reflector to reflect the laser beam from the first axicon annular reflector to the second axicon substantially cone-shaped reflector.
21. The system of claim 20, wherein the central cylindrical opening has a predetermined radius geometrically corresponding substantially to a radius of a central obscuration of the aperture of the beam director.
22. The system of claim 16, further comprising an optical element to place the laser beam on the aperture of the beam director to substantially completely fill the aperture of the beam director while leaving only a minimal amount of laser power inside a central obscuration of the aperture of the beam director.
23. The system of claim 22, wherein the optical element comprises a series of steering minors.
24. The system of claim 16, wherein the laser beam includes a substantially square footprint and the optical device comprises an axicon to invert and reshape the laser beam to form a substantially circular laser beam.
25. The system of claim 16, wherein the laser beam comprises a plurality of laser beams in a non-circular array, the system further comprising beam steering means to compact the plurality of beams.
26. The system of claim 16, wherein the laser beam includes a substantially rectangular footprint, the system further comprising a cylindrical telescope disposed before the optical device and wherein the optical device comprises an axicon to invert and reshape the laser beam to form a substantially circular laser beam.
27. A system for reshaping a laser beam, comprising:
a laser source to generate a substantially square or rectangular laser beam with an illuminated central portion;
a first axicon configured to reshape the laser beam into a substantially circular laser beam; and
a second axicon configured to substantially remove any illumination in a predetermined central portion of the circular laser beam; and
a beam director to project the reshaped laser beam on a target,
wherein the first axicon comprises:
a first axicon annular reflector;
a first axicon substantially cone-shaped reflector to reflect the laser beam to the first axicon annular reflector; and