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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claim(s) 1-7 and 14-20, in the reply filed on 06/19/2026 is acknowledged.
2. Claim(s) 1-7 and 14-20 will be examined. Claim(s) 8-13 are withdrawn.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-7 and 14-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claims 1-2, and 14 claim “1Sometastable state of helium atoms”. Claims 3 and 17 claim “1So metastable state of the helium atom”. It is indefinite what “1Sometastable state” and/or “1So metastable state” mean. The claims will be interpreted to mean “a ls2s 1So metastable state of helium atoms”. Claim 1 and 14’s dependent claims are thus also indefinite.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 18 is/are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable (if the 112 rejection is overcome, and) if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Concerning claim 18, the search did not find or make obvious the method of claim 17, wherein the first femtosecond laser is configured to output a 240-nanometer wavelength pulse and the second femtosecond laser is configured to output an 800-nanometer wavelength pulse.
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.
2. Claim(s) 14-17 and 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over BONDY et al., ("Two-photon decay rates in heliumlike ions: Finite-nuclear-mass effects," Physical Review A, 102, 052807, 2020 (published 10 November 2020); Retrieved from the Internet on 10 July 2024 from URL: https://journals.aps.org/pra/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevA.102.052807.) in view of
HERNÁNDEZ-GARCÍA, et al., ("Zeptosecond High Harmonic keV X-Ray Waveforms Driven by Midinfrared Laser Pulses," Physical Review Letters, 111, 033002, 19 July 2013; Retrieved from the Internet on 10 July 2024 from URL: https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.033002.); (hereinafter GARCÍA), and further in light of FUJII et al. (JP 2011204882 A), KUSUNOSE et al. (US 20210373447 A1) and HOSLER (US 20160259251 A1).
Regarding claim 14, BONDY discloses a method, comprising:
(a) exciting a ls2s 1So metastable wherein the helium atoms relax by emitting extreme ultraviolet (XUV) entangled photons (abstract) (pg. 052807-6, TABLE V);
(b) containing the helium gas in a cell (inherent, the gas is contained in something/a cell)
(d) collecting the emitted XUV entangled photons (abstract) (pg. 052807-6, TABLE V); and
(abstract Note spontaneous two-photon decay; Note is inclusive of entangled photons)
(pg. 052807-1 Note laser driven),
(pg. 052807-6, TABLE V Note 1.202628 X 102 nm) = ~120nm light which is XUV).
But BONDY fails to disclose a first femtosecond laser, a cell at a predetermined pressure; (c) placing the cell in a vacuum chamber; and (e) collimating the XUV photons into a beam .
GARCÍA, however, discloses femtosecond laser (pg. 033002-2) irradiation of helium/atomic gases for generating light /x-rays (pg. 033002-1) .
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA applications) to combine/modify the invention of BONDY, with femtosecond laser irradiation, as taught by GARCÍA, to use as a substitution of one laser type (i.e. femtosecond laser) for another for predictable results of excitation of the Helium atom to thereby emit light.
But BONDY as modified by GARCÍA fails to disclose a cell at a predetermined pressure; (c) placing the cell in a vacuum chamber; and (e) collimating the XUV photons into a beam .
FUJII, however, discloses a cell (figs. 1-2, 10) at a predetermined pressure (of 10) (pg. 6), having windows (12, 13). for containing a noble gas (abstract) for laser irradiation (via 30, 32) for generation of vacuum UV light (“VUV”) (i.e. wavelength in the vicinity of 10 to 200 nm)
(figs. 1-2, cell 10, laser 32, windows 12, 13, generated VUV light “VUV”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA applications) to combine/modify the invention of BONDY as modified by GARCÍA, with a cell at a predetermined pressure for containing a gas for irradiation, as taught by FUJII , to use as a substitution of one known gas containment system (i.e. a gas cell) for another to obtain predictable gas containment results.
But BONDY as modified by GARCÍA and FUJII fails to disclose placing the VUV/EUV light source/cell in a vacuum chamber; and (e) collimating the XUV photons into a beam .
KUSUNOSE, however, discloses a VUV/EUV light source/cell (fig. 1, 201) contained in a larger vacuum chamber (100) [0005].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA applications) to combine/modify the invention of BONDY as modified by GARCÍA and FUJII , with VUV/EUV light source/cell contained in a larger vacuum chamber, as taught by KUSUNOSE , to use for isolating the EUV light from outside air to prevent EUV light being absorbed by the air [0005].
But BONDY as modified by GARCÍA, FUJII and KUSUNOSE fails to disclose (e) collimating the XUV entangled photons into a beam .
HOSLER, however, discloses an EUV system that collimates the EUV/XUV photons into a beam via toroidal mirrors [0010].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA applications) to combine/modify the invention of BONDY as modified by GARCÍA, FUJII and KUSUNOSE, with collimating the EUV/XUV photons into a beam, as taught by HOSLER, to use for conditioning the EUV light beam for downstream applications/usage [0010].
Moreover, regarding claim(s) 15, FUJII discloses cell (10) includes windows (13) made of suitable material required for transmission of the XUV photons (vacuum UV light (“VUV”) (i.e. wavelength in the vicinity of 10 to 200 nm)); and is obvious for the reasons discussed supra with reference to claim(s) 14, see previous.
Moreover, regarding claim(s) 16, GARCÍA, discloses femtosecond laser (pg. 033002-2) irradiation of helium/atomic gases for generating light /x-rays (pg. 033002-1)
But BONDY as modified by GARCÍA, and KUSUNOSE fail to disclose 240-nanometer wavelength laser.
FUJII, however, discloses laser irradiation (via 30, 32) for generation of vacuum UV light (“VUV”) via a 240-nanometer wavelength laser (pg. 3).
(figs. 1-2, cell 10, laser 32, windows 12, 13, generated VUV light “VUV”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA applications) to combine/modify the invention of BONDY as modified by GARCÍA, and KUSUNOSE, with a 240-nanometer wavelength laser, as taught by FUJII , to use as a substitution of one known laser wavelength (i.e. 240 nm) for another to obtain predictable EUV/VUV generation results.
Regarding claim 17, BONDY discloses that wherein exciting the ls2s 1So metastable state of the helium atom includes activating the first
But BONDY fails to disclose a femtosecond lasers and a second femtosecond laser
GARCÍA, however, discloses use of a femtosecond laser (pg. 033002-2) irradiation of helium/atomic gases for generating light /x-rays (pg. 033002-1) .
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA applications) to combine/modify the invention of BONDY, with femtosecond laser irradiation, as taught by GARCÍA, to use as a substitution of one laser type (i.e. femtosecond laser) for another for predictable results of excitation of the Helium atom to thereby emit light.
But BONDY as modified by GARCÍA fails to disclose first laser in the presence of a second laser.
FUJII, however, discloses first laser (20, 22, or 23 ) (30, 32 or 33) in the presence of a second laser ((22 or 23) and/or (32 or 33)).
(figs. 1-2, cell 10, lasers 20, 22, 23 and 30, 32, 33).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA applications) to combine/modify the invention of BONDY as modified by GARCÍA, with first laser in the presence of a second laser, as taught by FUJII , to use for activation /excitation of the noble gas for generation of VUV light.
Regards to claim 19, FUJII discloses a pressurized cell (10), but differ(s) from the claimed invention by not showing the wherein the predetermined pressure is 5 bar. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA applications) for wherein the predetermined pressure is 5 bar, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
Regards to claim 20, KUSUNOSE, discloses a VUV/EUV light source/cell (fig. 1, 201) contained in a larger vacuum chamber (100) [0005], but differ(s) from the claimed invention by not showing the adjusting a pressure within the vacuum chamber to 1 millitorr or lower. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA applications) for the vacuum chamber to 1 millitorr or lower, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
Conclusion
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/ANDREW SMYTH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2878
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