Coherent Technologies, Inc.

Lockheed Martin Corporation

Lockheed Martin Coherent Technologies, Inc.

Duane Donald Smith

Wayne S Pelouch

Iain T McKinnie

Josef R Unternährer

AnnMarie Oien

Narasimha S Prasad

Joseph C Marron

Carl W Embry

Glenn Taylor Bennett

J Alex Thomson

John Koroshetz

James Pete Tucker

Timothy William Monarski

Samuel G L Williams

An imaging method and associated system for producing high-resolution images. The method includes illuminating an object or scene with coherent radiation such as beams from a laser and then, collecting scattered light with a plurality of subapertures rather than a single large aperture. The method continues with coherently detecting, such as with heterodyne detection, the scattered light to measure the complex amplitude incident on each subaperture and digitally reconstructing images from the coherently detected light for the subapertures. Then digital co-phasing is performed on the subapertures using an image sharpness or quality metric to form an image having the resolution of the total subaperture area. The method may also include determining an aimpoint in the formed image, calculating a phase screen, directing laser beams through the subapertures towards the aimpoint, and co-phasing the laser beams by applying the phase screen to form a single beam.

Compensated coherent imaging for improved imaging and directed energy weapons applications

Power scalable, rectangular, multi-mode, self-imaging, waveguide technologies are used with various combination of large aperture configurations,, Gaussianand super-Gaussianbeam profiles, thermal management configurations, flaredand taperedwaveguide shapes, axial or zig-zag light propagation paths, diffractive wall couplersand phase controller, flexibility, phased arrays, beam combiners', and separators, and other features to generate, transport, and deliver high power laser beams.

Power scalable optical systems for generating, transporting, and delivering high power, high quality laser beams

Power scalable optical systems for generating, transporting, and delivering high power, high quality, laser beams

The present invention is directed to guided wave systems, beam transport and waveguide techniques. The invention may comprise passive or active, hollow and dielectric core self-imaging mode wave guide systems, beam amplifiers (), laser resonators (), beam transports, and waveguides. Embodiments may include rectangular cross-section waveguides, and preferably maintaining spatial profile of an input beam, such as a Gaussian beam, through the self-imaging period of the waveguide while unique new capabilities to mitigate non-linear distortions that corrupt spatial, spectral and temporal coherence and polarization. Additional aspects may include, for example, transport, amplification, phase/frequency control or modulation, deflection, conversion, synthetic aperture, distributed aperture, beam forming, beam steering, beam combining, power sampling, power combining and power splitting, among other features. Some embodiments may provide a self-imaging, multimode, waveguide () and self-imaging guided wave systems and beam transport. Embodiments of the present invention may further provide a method of self-imaging, multimode beam transport and other self-imaging wave guidance techniques.

Power scalable waveguide amplifier and laser devices

A noncollinear pumped solid state Raman laser or amplifier has a pump laser that transversely or noncollinearly pumps a solid state Raman gain material, with an intensity sufficient to produce a stimulated Raman laser output beam. The pump beam and the Raman beam are noncollinear when the Raman beam travels completely across the pump beam within the Raman gain material, or where the Raman beam completely separates physically, at some location in the pumped Raman gain material, from a virtual beam, which is collinear to the pump beam axis, and which has the same entrance spot size and beam divergence as the Raman beam. The device enhances the pump laser beam spatial homogenization to improve the wavefront smoothness and propagation performance from the pump beam to the Raman beam. Other configurations of the device have a plurality of mirrors, or prisms to fold the pump beam to cause the pump beam to pass through the Raman material a plurality of times, which increases the energy transferred from the pump beam to the Raman beam.

Noncollinearly pumped solid state Raman laser

Growing community of inventors

Louisville, CO, United States of America

Duane Donald Smith