The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 05, 2000
Filed:
Apr. 12, 1999
Eddy A Stappaerts, San Ramon, CA (US);
William H Long, Jr, Torrance, CA (US);
Northrop Grumman Corporation, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Abstract
The present invention relates to a laser pointing and tracking system which forms and maintains a small laser spot size at a selected aimpoint on a target and compensates for optical distortion in the intervening media. The invention comprises an illumination laser for directing a first wide divergence beam of short-pulse laser radiation toward a stationary or moving target. The target reflects a portion of the incident beam as return radiation which is interfered with a properly-timed short-pulse reference beam on an electronic radiation detector array. The detector array signals are processed to produce an electronic hologram which is imposed as a phase pattern on a spatial light modulator. A laser reads out the hologram to direct a beam of radiation at the target. Multiple sequential illumination and hologram formation/readout steps produce a small spot size at the selected aimpoint. The small spot is maintained at the aimpoint during the duration of an engagement by repeating the above steps.