Optical Attenuation Coefficient Meter

Abstract

An attenuation meter is provided for use in a water environment. In operation, a transmitter of the meter transmits a laser pulse focused to a size at a predetermined range. A receiver of the meter images a focused spot to minimize unwanted light back scattering and avoid diffractive spreading within the back scattering region. Filtering the angular spectrum can further reject scattered light. The filtered light is received, measured and processed by a oscilloscope as pulse averages. The meter also includes a photodetector to measure a diffuse attenuation coefficient. The output voltage of the photodetector is measured and processed by the oscilloscope that produces an average voltage over a preset number of pulses. A controller best fits voltage to time dependence to produce the diffuse attenuation coefficient. Only the shape of the receiver time dependence is required to provide the diffuse attenuation coefficient measurement.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 22, 2016
Accession Number
AD1026301

Entities

People

  • Lee E. Estes

Organizations

  • Naval Undersea Warfare Center

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Circular Polarization
  • Detection
  • Detectors
  • Environment
  • Filters
  • Filtration
  • Laser Pulses
  • Light Pulses
  • Light Sources
  • Measurement
  • Photodetectors
  • Polarization
  • Scattering
  • Spectra
  • Time Dependence
  • Transmitters
  • Unmanned Underwater Vehicles

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Electromagnetic Wave Scattering and Antenna Radiation Engineering
  • Optical Physics and Photonics.
  • Radar Systems Engineering.

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy