Beam Director/Expander for High Energy Laser Applications

The overall goal of this project is to design, fabricate, and test a compact, low power, aircraft-mounted Beam Director/Expander (BD/E) for High Energy Laser (HEL) Applications. Examples of HEL applications include: (1) directed energy weapons from air- and space-borne sources, and (2) countermeasures for surface-to-air missiles aimed at aircraft. Both applications require high bandwidth and high accuracy to reject structural disturbances (jitter) from the base aircraft and to enable rapid target acquisition and tracking. Tactical beam directors for these applications need to: handle laser power up to 300 kW, have optical throughput greater than 90%, work with wavelengths between 1.0 micron and 1.1 micron, have residual wavefront error less than lambda/8 at 1.06 micron, have residual jitter less than 2 microrad, have slew rates exceeding 2 rad/sec, be capable of slew accelerations greater than 2 rad/sec2, take up less than 0.2 cubic meters, and have mass less than 50 kg. Our proposed Beam Director/Expander combines a unique, optical design; advanced mirror materials; novel actuator technology; and proven gimbal and high-speed control system electronics. During Phase I, we will demonstrate the feasibility of our approach. During Phase II, we will fabricate and test a bench-top BD/E.