A Description of the Thermal Distortion Test Facility at the Air Force Weapons Laboratory.

Abstract

The Thermal Distortion Test Facility at the Air Force Weapons Laboratory provides an in-house capability for obtaining interferometric measurements of laser produced thermal distortions in water-cooled mirrors of interest to the Air Force Advanced Radiation Technology program. A rastered electron beam is used to simulate the laser heating. The facility is currently testing mirrors up to 40 cm in diameter and with water flows of up to 45 GPM. Data in the form of 35-mm negatives and video tapes, are reduced to give distortion information with typically a precision of + or - 0.05 micrometer at absorbed power densities in excess of 1 kilowatt/sq cm. This report is a facility description designed in part to give the potential user a basic understanding of the system capabilities and the technical requirements which must be met to prepare for a test. (Author)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 01, 1976
Accession Number
ADA027364

Entities

People

  • A. B. Callender
  • Raymond H. Bloomer Jr

Organizations

  • Air Force Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Corpuscular Radiation
  • Distortion
  • Electron Beams
  • Measurement
  • Radiation
  • Research Facilities
  • Test Facilities
  • Video Tapes
  • Water Flow

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Aerospace Test and Evaluation
  • Computer Science.
  • Optical Physics and Photonics.

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy
  • Microelectronics