Non-Final Rejection
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . The examiner issued a restriction requirement on 4/20/2026, finding there were claims drawn to several distinct species. Applicant’s election without traverse of species I in the reply filed on 6/18/2026 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not point out any errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse. MPEP 818.01(a). Applicant asserts that claims 1-4, 7, 12, 14, and 20 read on the elected species, and the examiner agrees. Claims 5-6, 8-11, 13, and 15-19 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Note the examiner of record has changed.
Claim Objections
Claim 14 is objected to because “configured” is misspelled. Correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 1, 2, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Bourderionnet et al., Spatial mode control of a diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser by use of an intracavity holographic phase plate, Optics Letters, vol. 25 no. 21 (Nov. 2000).
Regarding claim 1, Bourderionnet discloses in Fig. 1 a laser comprising: a resonant cavity configured to generate radiation in a predetermined transverse mode which oscillates in a propagation plane; and a broadband holographic phase mask (HPM) mounted in the resonant cavity and fabricated with a phase profile which is different from that of the predetermined transverse mode, the HPM being tuned to a Bragg angle so as to diffract a portion of the generated radiation which has a spectral width of up to a bandwidth of the HPM and propagates in a desired transverse mode with the phase profile of the HPM in a diffraction plane extending transversely to the propagation plane.
Regarding claim 2, there are a plurality of spaced reflectors delimiting the resonant cavity, at least one reflector being a high reflectivity (HR) mirror, and a gain element spaced inwards from the reflectors. See p. 1579, second paragraph.
Regarding claim 20, Bourderionnet discloses that when determining the phase for recording the holographic plate, the calculation included the thermal lens of the gain crystal. P. 1579, left col. third par. It can therefore be said that the HPM is configured to compensate for a thermal lens formed in the resonant cavity by the generated radiation.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bourderionnet in view of Divliansky et al., Achromatic complex holograms for laser mode conversion, Optics Express, vol. 27 no. 1 (Jan. 2019).
Regarding claim 14, Bourderionnet does not disclose the HPM is configured with a spectral width ranging between 0.02 and 300 nm. This is a wide range that covers both narrow band filtering or broad band beam shaping. Divliansky shows that it was known in the art that holographic phase plates may have a spectral width within the claimed range. P. 232, middle; fig. 5. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to adjust the spectral width as needed depending on the user’s desired output spectrum.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 4, 7, and 12 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. The configurations of claims 3 and 12 are not shown in Bourderionnet or any other art. Claims 4 and 7 depend from claim 3.
Conclusion
Various references with similar phase masks are cited.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to James Menefee whose telephone number is (571)272-1944. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7-4.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, MinSun Harvey can be reached at (571) 272-1835. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/JAMES A MENEFEE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2828
Prosecution Insights