Raytheon Company

Aaron B Potter

Kalin Spariosu

Robert D Stultz

Stephen P Palese

Todd O Clatterbuck

Thomas R Yengst

Aleksandr S Radunsky

Niraj K Inamdar

Katherine V Palombo

A method includes generating a mixed optical beam using an optical phased array that includes multiple array elements, where each array element includes an antenna element and a phase modulator. The mixed optical beam includes a combination of (i) an output optical beam produced by the optical phased array and (ii) a reference optical beam. The method also includes capturing near-field measurements of the mixed optical beam, where the near-field measurements are captured while scanning phase angles of the phase modulators. The method further includes generating calibration data based on the near-field measurements, where the calibration data identifies phase and amplitude responses of the array elements. In addition, the method includes storing the calibration data.

Photonic integrated circuit-based optical phased array calibration technique

A system includes a planar waveguide that includes an active gain medium configured to receive pump light from a pump source and amplify stimulated emission light. The planar waveguide has a fast axis and a slow axis and is configured to operate in single mode in the fast axis and multimode in the slow axis. The system also includes a hybrid spatial filter configured to receive the amplified stimulated emission light from the planar waveguide and output laser light. The hybrid spatial filter includes a physical slit having a narrower dimension corresponding to the slow axis of the planar waveguide. The physical slit is configured to reduce an intensity of the amplified stimulated emission light received from the planar waveguide. The hybrid spatial filter also includes a Volume Bragg Grating (VBG) configured to constrain an angle of the amplified stimulated emission light and enable compact geometry intra-cavity beam expanding/collimating optics.

High-pulse energy, high-power lasers with diffraction-limited performance

An apparatus includes a plurality of front-end nonlinear optical crystals and a plurality of back-end nonlinear optical crystals. The front-end nonlinear optical crystals are arranged in a chain and are configured to amplify a received signal. The back-end nonlinear optical crystals are arranged in the chain after the front-end nonlinear optical crystals and are configured to further amplify the received signal and generate an amplified signal. The back-end nonlinear optical crystals are made from a different nonlinear optical crystal than the front-end nonlinear optical crystals.

Hybrid material optical parametric amplifier

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Torrance, CA, United States of America

Aaron B Potter