ONE MICRON LASER DOPPLER RADAR

THE HOMODYNE CHARACTERISTICS ARE BEING EVALUATED OF A BREADBOARD COHERENT ONE MICRON SOLID-STATE LASER IN A LASER RADAR (LADAR) CONFIGURATION OPERATION AGAINST LABORATORY MOVING (DOPPLER) TARGETS. THIS PROGRAM BUILDS UPON PREVIOUS WORK THAT DEMONSTRATED COHERENT BEAMSUMMATION IN WHICH TWO BREADBOARD DIODE PUMPED, RING STABILIZED, ONEMICRON LASERS WERE CONSTRUCTED. THIS PROGRAM ALSO IS UTILIZING COHERENT LASER RADAR INTERFEROMETER AND DOPPLER FREQUENCY DISCRIMINATOR DESIGNS. FROM THESE VARIOUS SUBASSEMBLIES, A COHERENT ONE MICRON LADAR IS BEING EVALUATED WITH TESTS BEING CONDUCTED TO INDICATE VELOCITY DISCRIMINATION CAPABILITY AND LIMITATIONS. FINALLY, A SYSTEMANALYSIS IS BEING CONDUCTED TO DETERMINE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A LADAR APPROPRIATE FOR TRACKING AND DISCRIMINATION MEASUREMENTS. THIS LASER DOPPLER RADAR, WHEN SUCCESSFUL, WOULD HAVE APPLICATION AS A SPACE-BORNE OR TERRESTRIAL WIND SENSOR OR IN OTHER APPLICATIONS WHERE REMOTE, VERY ACCURATE VELOCITY MEASUREMENT IS REQUIRED.