Analysis and Test of a Wide Angle Spectrometer

Abstract

This thesis describes an analysis and test of a design for a laser warning receiver which provides aircrew warning and collects threat data. The analysis and test includes the optics and detector of the system. A design for a device to measure wavelength, angle of arrival, and energy of a laser pulse is analyzed and tested. The instrument has a 180 degree field of view and an operating range of 400 nm - 800 nm. In a series of tests the instrument was found to measure angle of arrival accurately to within + or - 41 arc minutes and a wavelength to within 1 nm. A variation of + or - 20% in the measurement of pulse energy per unit area was found for small changes in angle of arrival. The system was thermal noise limited and could detect a pulse that was 1/45 of the Maximum Permissible Exposure (MPE) with an uncooled detector. When using a detector cooled to -10 C, the system could detect a pulse 1/22000 of the MPE. This research is an attempt to design, analyze, prototype, and test an approach to meeting this need which uses a cylindrical lens and a spectrometer equipped with an area detector. Keywords: Avionics. (aw)

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 1989
Accession Number
ADA215819

Entities

People

  • Robert D. Kaiser

Organizations

  • Air Force Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Air Force
  • Angle Of Arrival
  • Arc Lamps
  • Classification
  • Detectors
  • Engineering
  • Helium Neon Lasers
  • Laser Pulses
  • Lasers
  • Light (Electromagnetic Radiation)
  • Measurement
  • Numerical Aperture
  • Optics
  • Radiation
  • Spectra
  • Wide Angles

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Aviation Science / Aeronautics.
  • Optical Physics and Photonics.
  • Sensor Fusion and Tracking Systems.

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy