Appeal No. 1999-2193 Page 10
Application No. 08/975,338
appellants provide guidance on page 2, line 37, to page 3,
line 38, of the specification that an ultraviolet beam is
collimated within the core of a silica optical fiber by
differences in refractive index between the core and the
cladding of the fiber and between the cladding and the
external environment (e.g., air). In our opinion, this
teaching would enable an artisan to practice the claimed
invention with any core-cladding silica optical fiber by
reverse calculation, using known optical principles (e.g.,
Snell's Law), of what the appropriate incoming ultraviolet
beam should be to produce a collimated beam in the fiber's
core. That is, one knowing the properties of the fiber and
desiring a collimated beam in the core would be able to
calculate what the divergence/convergence of the beam would
have to be in the cladding, and from that one could calculate
what the divergence/convergence of the beam would have to be
in the external environment (e.g., air). Thus, we conclude
that the one skilled in the art could make and use the
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