Thomson-Csf

Thomas-Csf

Patrice Jano

Jacques Rioland

Jean-Pierre Huignard

Claude Puech

Jean-Paul Pocholle

Jean-Luc Ayral

Thibaut De Saxce

Jean-Pierre Brasile

Paul Thibout

Sylvie Rat

Francedillaois-Hugues Gauthier

Michel Delon

A device to control the aiming and focusing of laser systems on a target comprises at least one reflecting false target (21) positioned and oriented substantially identically to the target (3), a lens (12) for the focusing of the beam on this false target, a separator device (11), a wavefront analyzer (35), a mirror (33) and a semi-reflective plate (32), the beam (1) getting focused, at the end of the system, on the false target (21) after getting reflected on the separator device (11). A part (31) of the beam with the same wavelength as that of the part reflected by the separator device (11) goes through this device and the semi-reflective plate (32) to get directed towards the wavefront analyzer (35). The beam reflected by the false target (21) goes through the separator grating (11) to get reflected on the mirror (33) and the semi-reflective plate (32) to get directed towards the wavefront analyzer (35). The aiming and focusing measurements are carried out by means of this wavefront analyzer (35) through a differential analysis between the two wavefronts. Application especially to power lasers.

Device to control the aiming and focusing of laser systems on a target

A device for the alignment of a laser beam amplification system comprises at least measuring means and alignment templates positioned instead of filtering hole plates of the amplification system, the alignment templates having holes whose centers have substantially the same spatial positions as the centers of the filtering holes, certain template holes being provided with reference sights offset in an angular way with respect to one another, the tips of these sights being pointed towards the center of the holes, the measuring means defining, by sighting at the end of the amplification system, the divergences between the focusing points of the beam in the holes, merged at a single point, and the tips of the sights, their angular positions enabling them to be assigned to their respective holes, the positions of elements of the amplification system being then controlled as a function of the measurements of divergences. Application to the automating setting of alignment, especially in the case of large numbers of parallel amplification systems.

Device to measure the alignment of a laser amplification system

This optical device has, in the rear of the projectile, a retro-reflector fitted out with a polarizer and, at the projectile firing station, a light source whose beam illuminates the rear of the projectile, and a light flux analyzer deducing the roll angle of the projectile from the direction of polarization of the light flux reflected by this projectile, wherein the polarizer is a polarizer with refraction index discontinuity positioned on the rear of the projectile, before the retro-reflector, with an angle of inclination between the direction normal to its plane of index variation and the longitudinal axis of the projectile chosen to be greater than the Brewster angle, and wherein the light source is offset laterally with respect to firing axis of the projectile, these two measurements giving rise to a modulation of intensity of the reflected light beam as a function of the roll angle plus or minus 2.pi., giving, to two successive maximum values of the signal of the analyzer, different amplitudes that enable them to be differentiated and therefore make it possible to remove the ambiguity of .pi. resulting from the measurement of the direction of polarization. FIG. 1.

Optical device for the unambiguous measurement of the roll angle of a

Optical device for measuring the roll angle of a projectile

Solid laser with an emission wavelength of 0.5-0.65 micrometers

Disclosed is a laser pulse generator in which a single pulse is generated from a train of pulses. The amplitude of this single pulse is the addition of the amplitudes of the pulses of the train of pulses. This addition is done in a non-linear crystal inserted in an optical loop. The train of pulses takes the place of a pump wave applied to the non-linear crystal and the signal circulating in the optical loop takes the place of a signal wave. This signal wave therefore benefits from a transfer of energy coming from the pump wave because of the interaction in the non-linear crystal.

Power laser pulse generator

Growing community of inventors

Seine Port, France

Patrice Jano