DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 15, 16, 20, and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sheng, Cheng, et al. "Efficient preparation of two-dimensional defect-free atom arrays with near-fewest sorting-atom moves." Physical Review Research 3.2 (2021): 023008 [hereinafter Sheng II].
Regarding Claim 15:
Sheng II teaches a method for generating a multi-element atom array, comprising:
spatially modulating a first input laser beam to generate a first spatially modulated laser beam, the first input having a first wavelength (section II “8×8 optical tweezer array is generated by an 808-nmlaser beam deflected in two orthogonal directions by a dual-axis acousto-optic deflector (AOD)”);
spatially modulating a second input laser beam to generate a second spatially modulated laser beam, the first input having a second wavelength different than the first wavelength (section II – “830-nm MT is also created by an AOD driven by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) (Mini-circuits ZOS-150+) with the frequency tuned by a DC voltage”);
combining the first and second spatially modulated laser beams to generate a combined laser beam (the beams are combined in the dichroic mirror shown in Fig. 1) ; and
focusing the combined laser beam to generate to generate a first plurality of optical tweezers at the first wavelength and a second plurality of optical tweezers at the second wavelength (in Fig. 1D the two different tweezer types are shown, namely the array of tweezers at 808 nm, and the mobile tweezer at 830 nm. While the only one 830 nm mobile tweezer is made at a time, a plurality of these tweezers are formed over time to rearrange atoms, such as is the case demonstrated in Fig. 1E);
each of the second plurality of optical tweezers being spatially resolved from all of the first plurality of optical tweezers (as can be seen in Fig. 1D, the mobile tweezers are spatially resolved from the array tweezers at least while moving atoms from array point to array point).
Regarding Claim 16:
Sheng II teaches the method of claim 15, each of the first and second pluralities of optical tweezers forming an optical-tweezer array. See Fig. 1C-E. The 808 nm tweezers form an 8x8 array. The 830 nm tweezers forms a plurality of 1x1 arrays.
Regarding Claim 20:
Sheng II teaches the method of claim 15, further comprising one or both of:
homogenizing intensities of the first plurality of optical tweezers (Section II first paragraph); and
homogenizing intensities of the second plurality of optical tweezers (Section II first paragraph).
Regarding Claim 24:
Sheng II teaches the method of claim 15, further comprising imaging the combined laser beam after the combined laser beam has passed through a focal plane established by the focusing. Section II second paragraph.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 17-19 and 21-23 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 15-16 and 20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WYATT A STOFFA whose telephone number is (571)270-1782. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 0700-1600 EST.
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WYATT STOFFA
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2881
/WYATT A STOFFA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2881