Accession Number:

ADD012699

Title:

Discrete Phase Conjugate Technique for Precompensation of Laser Beams Transmitted through Turbulence.

Descriptive Note:

Patent,

Corporate Author:

DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE WASHINGTON DC

Personal Author(s):

• MacGovern,Alan J.

Report Date:

1987-01-06

Pagination or Media Count:

9.0

Abstract:

A process and apparatus are disclosed for aligning a laser beam from a laser transmitter with an incoming laser beam, and driving any sensed tilt differences on an aperture and subaperture basis to zero. The apparatus uses a shared apperture component to sample the outgoing laser beam and the incoming target beam, retroreflector array to reverse the direction of the subaperture samples of the outgoing beam, a common-mode wavefront sensor to measure subaperture tilt differences between the reversed samples of the laser and the incoming target beam, and a deformable mirror to drive any sensed tilt differences to zero. A transparent beamsplitters used as the shared aperture component and an AC shearing interferometer is used as the basis for the common-mode sensing. By forcing the outgoing beam to be then conjugate of the incoming beam it is automatically precompensated for any aberrations in the transmission path. Patents

Descriptors:

• *PATENTS
• *TURBULENCE
• *LASER BEAMS
• *COMPENSATION
• *CONTROL SYSTEMS
• DEFORMATION
• DRIVES
• MIRRORS
• LASERS
• TRANSMITTERS
• REVERSIBLE
• SAMPLING
• PATHS
• TRANSMITTANCE
• ARRAYS
• RETROREFLECTORS
• REVERSIBLE

Subject Categories:

• Lasers and Masers
• Optics

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE