US Government As Represented by the Secretary of the Army

Jony Jiang Liu

Leonid Alexseevich Beresnev

Gerald J Iafrate

Gary W Carhart

George J Simonis

Christian Von Der Lippe

A method and apparatus for coherent beam combining in an array of laser beam collimators. The array of laser beam collimators includes an array of a plurality collimating lenses, each lens intercepting a respective one of a plurality of divergent laser beams. Each collimating lens is joined with adjacent collimating lenses such that an output aperture is formed with a common vertex of the adjacently joined collimating lenses. A concave mirror is positioned a distance from the common vertex for receiving a fraction of each of the collimated laser beams that passed through a portion of each of the collimating lenses that are adjacent to the common vertex, and then providing reflected fractional collimated laser beams. A sensor intercepts the reflected fractional collimated laser beams so as to provide a signal that is applied to synchronize the phase of each of the collimated laser beams.

Apparatus for coherent beam combining in an array of laser collimators

A micro-mirror optical tracking and ranging system comprises an optical transceiver having a Micro-Electro-Optical Mechanical System (MEOMS) micro-mirror beam steering system and an electronic control and operating system for processing electronic signals. An optical transceiver and MEOMS micro-mirror beam steering system comprises two oppositely installed micro-mirrors controlled so that they spin and tilt synchronously and project a laser beam out in a wide solid angle and interval in a substantially conically shaped scanning pattern. Such an optical transmitter system provides a steered frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) laser beam. When a laser beam waveform reflects off of an object within the scanned patter it is detected by the optical receiver an electronic control and operating system processes the detected laser beam waveform by mixing it with the original transmitted laser beam waveform and calculates the precise distance and location of the object.

Micro-mirror optical tracking and ranging system

A high-resolution scanning probe microscope using a coherent dual-tip probe comprises two single-atom protrusions on a single crystal metal wire. As the dual-tip probe scans across the surface of a sample material under an electrical bias, an interferenced electron wave function formed by two protruding atoms interacts with electron wave functions of the sample surface. Such an interferenced wave function has a distinctive pattern of electron wave density as high as four times that of a single-atom tip. A more distinctive microscopic image of the sample surface is therefore generated. The resolution of the dual-tip scanning probe microscopic image is also higher than that obtained by a single-tip probe because the interferenced electron wave function provides a confined and densely distributed interactive region.

High resolution coherent dual-tip scanning probe microscope

Micro-optical elements (MOEs) are designed and fabricated onto transparent laser driver substrates to collimate or focus the beams from vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) in accordance with specific application requirements. One disclosed example teaches the hybrid integration of a top-emitting 850 mm VCSEL array and a transparent sapphire substrate that supports a monolithic MOE with designated optical functionality. A flip-chipping hybridization technique ensures a realistic and reliable process. The VCSEL beams transmit directly through the MOE structure on the transparent sapphire substrate and become well-controlled optical outputs under precise specifications. The optical power loss in such a beam shaping process is minimized compared to configurations based on conventional optical components.

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Olney, MD, United States of America

Jony Jiang Liu