Research Study of a CO2 Laser Radar Transmitter

Abstract

A prototype high power laser radar transmitter at 10.6 micrometers wavelength has been developed for installation at Lincoln Laboratory's Millstone Hill radar site. This report summarizes the three phases of its development: (1) Exploratory work on the properties of dc- and pulse-excited CO2 laser amplifiers and their use in producing trains of high power optical pulses, (2) Design of 1 kW average (10 kW peak) power transmitter, and (3) Operational tests of the transmitter. The signal for a stable oscillator is amplified to a level beyond 200W, formed into a train of 10 microsec pulses by mechanical modulation before amplification to the 10 kW level. All amplifiers are dc-excited. Subjects treated include gain limitations set by spurious oscillation, pulse-to-pulse amplitude stability, oscillator-amplifier interaction, and output beam profile.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 1968
Accession Number
AD0844988

Entities

People

  • Perry A. Miles

Organizations

  • RTX

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Detection
  • Detectors
  • Diffraction
  • Distortion
  • Electromagnetic Scattering
  • Energy
  • Energy Transfer
  • Laser Radar
  • Lasers
  • Measurement
  • Modulation
  • Modulators
  • Optical Properties
  • Optics
  • Power Supplies
  • Radar Transmitters
  • Scattering

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics.
  • Electronics Engineering
  • Optical Physics and Photonics.

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy