Imaging and Laser Beam Effects (Rochester Institute of Technology)
Abstract
The propagation of laser light through the maritime atmosphere can introduce various seeing difficulties owing for example to aberrations from air turbulence and scattering from water droplets. Laser light can also dazzle assets such as electro-optic sensors. Our recent experimental and numerical investigations demonstrated that a transparent phase mask combined with image reconstruction algorithms can limit the dazzle problem in a controlled laboratory environment. The proposed effort will continue this research, exploring the design of phase masks that satisfy image quality and laser suppressionobjectives. Aberrations from turbulence and spectrally broadband imaging scenarios will be added to the experimental system and numerical model. Phase mask design involves nonlinear optimization of a system involving multiple control parameters and objectives. The proposed effort will develop a means for locating global or pseudo global optimization states by cataloging parameter spaces associated with mask basis functions, and using those findings as the input of a genetic algorithm to craft a high-performance phase mask. Performance metrics and alternative mask design strategies will be explored for cases of turbulence and broad-band illumination. A second branch of research is proposed whereby laser interactions with water droplets will be experimentally studied by use of ultrasonic levitation. In principle, a sheet of droplets may be levitated in a planar acoustic standing wave, thereby providing an ideal platform for experimental measurements of laser-droplet interactions. This new type of platform may become very useful for a broad range of experiments.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Aug 15, 2019
- Source ID
- N000141912520
Entities
People
- Grover Swartzlander
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- Rochester Institute of Technology
- United States Navy