Trw Limited

Robert Aprahamian

Jesper Munch

Joseph D Miller

Lee O Heflinger

George L Clark

Richard H Moyer

Gabriel G Lombardi

Leonard J Marabella

Theodore C Salvi

Gary J Linford

Ralph Frederick Wuerker

A technique for correcting wavefront aberrations introduced by large primary optical elements in portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. The aberrations of the primary element are first transferred to a beacon beam and this aberrated beam is interfered with a reference beam in a holographic medium. These beams are then turned off and a beam from a distant object, containing the same aberrations, is allowed to diffract from the hologram. The diffracted beam from the hologram contains the image of the distant object with aberrations removed. Use of this technique permits the construction of large optical elements inexpensively, since surface tolerances of the elements can be substantially relaxed.

Large optics compensated imaging systems

Apparatus and a corresponding method, for removing the effect of phase aberrations introduced into an incident light wave by a large optical element, such as a large concave mirror. Rather than building additional precision into the mirror, phase correction is effected by first collimating and phase conjugating the incident beam after reflection from the mirror, then expanding the beam again to fill the mirror. After its second reflection from the large mirror, the light beam is practically free of phase errors, since the phase conjugated beam is subject to substantially the same phase aberrating conditions as the incident beam. The apparatus may be used to produce an aberration-free image of a distant object, or to produce an aberration-free collimated light beam from a diffraction-limited laser source.

Phase corrector for large optical systems

A technique in which one or more phase conjugation cells, such as stimulated Brillouin scattering cells, are controlled by use of a seed beam injected into the cells. When a laser beam is focused into a phase conjugation cell, a reflected phase conjugated beam is produced. The seed beam is injected at the same frequency and in the same direction as the expected phase conjugated beam, and is adjusted to control the phase and other characteristics of the phase conjugated beam. In multiple cell arrays, seed beams are employed to ensure phase coherency of multiple beams. For lower energy applications, use of the seed beam allows a phase conjugation cell to be operated with incident beams of lower energy than would be needed without the seed beam.

Method and apparatus for control of phase conjugation cells

Apparatus, and a corresponding method for its use, for producing a phased array of high-energy laser beams from multiple laser amplifiers. A reference beam produced by a master oscillator senses phase and piston errors in a primary mirror array, and is divided into multiple probe beams, each of which makes multiple passes of its own laser amplifier. The multiple probe beams are together focused into a single phase conjugation cell, which not only produces phase-conjugated reflected beams, to effect compensation for various phase aberrations, but also locks all of the reflected beams together in phase. An arrangement of a birefringent wedge and a quaterwave plate for each of the beams prevents the reflected beams from returning to the master oscillator and facilitates combining of the reflected beams for output as a cophasal array. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, this is accomplished by using the birefringent wedges to deflect each retro-reflected phase-conjugated beam onto the appropriate portion of a monolithic secondary mirror, and then to the primary mirror array.

Phased array combination of laser beams

A plurality of pulsed chemical lasers such as HF or DF lasers are disposed symmetrically about a central axis. Each laser is energized sequentially so that the resulting output laser pulses have substantially consecutive time duration. Hence, the duration of the laser pulses equals the duration of each laser times the number of lasers. Reflectors are provided for combining the output pulses of each laser to generate a segmented output beam.

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Hermosa Beach, CA, United States of America

Robert Aprahamian