A NEW METHOD OF LASER BEAM STEERING USING OPTICALLY CONTROLLED VOLUME DIFFRACTION GRATINGS IS PRESENTED.

A NEW METHOD OF LASER BEAM STEERING USING OPTICALLY CONTROLLED VOLUME DIFFRACTION GRATINGS IS PRESENTED. THIS CONCEPT HAS THE POTENTIAL FOR STEERING A LASER BEAM OVER A WIDE FIELD-OF-VIEW IN A RANDOM ACCESS FASHION AT HIGH SPEED.A METHOD IS INVESTIGATED FOR AUTOMATICALLY CONTROLLING THE SPACING AND ORIENTATION OF THE DIFFRACTION GRATING TO MAINTAIN HIGH EFFICIENCY OVER A WIDE FIELD-OF-VIEW. THE DIFFRACTION GRATINGS ARE WRITTEN IN A PHOTOREFRACTIVE MATERIAL USING A VOLUME INTERFERENCE PATTERN PRODUCED BY A VARIABLE FREQUENCY WRITING LASER. THE GEOMETRICAL ARRANGEMENT OF THE WRITING BEAMS WILL BE OPTIMIZED TO PROVIDE AUTOMATIC ADJUSTMENT OF THE GRATING TO SATISFY BRAGG'S LAW OVER A WIDE FIELD-OF-VIEW. SEVERAL CANDIDATE PHOTOREFRACTIVE MATERIALS ARE DESCRIBED, AND ANALYTICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL METHODS ARE USED TO EXPLORE THEIR SUITABILITY. HIGH SPEED METHODS OF VARYING THE WRITING BEAMS USED TO PRODUCE THE VARIABLE INTERFERENCE PATTERN ARE IDENTIFIED.