AGILE LASER IMAGER

ACTIVE OPTICAL IMAGING SENSORS HAVE BEEN CONSIDERED FOR STRATEGIC DEFENSE MISSIONS, INCLUDING TRACKING, DISCRIMINATION, AND AIMPOINT SELECTION. IN EACH OF THESE SYSTEM CONCEPTS, FOUR OUTSTANDING PROBLEMS HAVE BEEN PRESENT. THESE ARE: THE EXTREMELY LARGE OPTICS SIZE REQUIRED, THE ANGULAR AGILITY REQUIRED FOR BOTH THE TRANSMITTER AND THE RECEIVER, SYSTEM SURVIVABILITY, AND THE SHORT-WAVELENGTH HIGH POWER LASER SOURCES REQUIRED. COHERENTLY-COMBINED MULTIPLE APERTURE SYSTEMS CAN PROVIDE A NUMBER OF UNIQUE ADVANTGES FOR VERY LONG RANGE ANGLE-ANGLE OPTICAL IMAGING SYSTEMS. THESE ADVANTAGES INCLUDE HIGH ANGULAR RESOLUTION USING RELATIVELY SMALL, EASY TO FABRICATE OPTICAL ELEMENTS, A SOLUTION OF THE AGILE RECEIVER PROBLEM, AND THE POSSIBILITY OF OBTAINING ROTATION RATE AND AXIS INFORMATION ABOUT SPINNING OBJECTS. THE ABILITY TO OPERATE AT VERY LONG RANGES MAY ENHANCE SYSTEM SURVIVABILITY. THUS, MULTIPLE APERTURE SYSTEMS MAY PROVIDE A SOLUTION TO THREE OF THE FOUR OUTSTANDING PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH LONG-RANGE IMAGING SENSORS. IN THIS PROPOSAL, WE HAVE LAID OUT A PLAN TO INVESTIGATE A NEW APPLICATION OF PHASE RETRIEVAL TECHNIQUES TO USE THE INFORMATION IN THE SPECKLE PATTERN REFLECTED FROM A LASERILLUMINATED OBJECT TO RECONSTRUCT A HIGH-RESOLUTION IMAGE OF THE OBJECT.