A MINIATURIZED, LOW COST, 1.5 UM COHERENT LASER RADAR SYSTEM BASED ON DIODE LASERS

COHERENT TECHNOLOGIES, INC. HAS RECENTLY DEMONSTRATED THAT A 2 UM COHERENT LASER RADAR (CLR) OPERATING AT 1 MJ/PULSE WITH A 16 CM BEAM DIAMETER, IS CAPABLE OF PERFORMING HARD TARGET RANGE AND VELOCITY MEASUREMENTS TO AT LEAST 50 KM. SCALING THESE RESULTS TO50 UJ/PULSE AND A 5 CM TELESCOPE INDICATE THAT RANGE RESOLVED VELOCITY MEASUREMENTS TO RANGES OF SEVERAL MK SHOULD BE FEASIBLE. WE BELIEVETHAT REACHING SUCH A PULSE ENERGY CAN BE ACHIEVED BY AMPLIFYING A NARROW-BANK 1.53 UM LASER DIODE SIGNAL IN AN ERBIUM-DOPE FIBER AMPLIFIER. THE RESULT WOULD BE A VERY COMPACT, BATTERY-OPERABLE EYESAFE CLR WITH A USEFUL RANGE OF SEVERAL KM. A DEVICE OF THIS TYPE COULD FIND MANYUSES IN MILITARY AS WELL AS COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS. THIS PHASE I EFFORT WILL ESTABLISH THE FEASIBILITY OF THE CONCEPT. TO DO SO WE WILL INVESTIGATE AND MODEL ALL SUBSYSTEMS AND ENSURE THAT DEVICES MEETING THE REQUIREMENTS CAN BE DEVELOPED. WE WILL ALSO PERFORM FIELD MEASUREMENTS AT 2 UM TO DEMONSTRATE THAT SUFFICIENT RANGE CAPABILITY CAN BE ACHIEVED. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS - A LARGE NUMBER OF MILITARY AND COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS EXIST FOR COMPACT,EYESAFE, VELOCITY MEASURING DEVICES. MILITARY APPLICATIONS INCLUDE REMOTE RANGE AND VELOCITY MEASUREMENT OF AIRCRAFT AND VEHICLES. COMMERCIAL USES INCLUDE CAR SPEED MONITORING, MONITORING SPORTS EVENTS, AND AUTOMOTIVE USES IN WARNING DEVICES AND AUTOMATIC BRAKE SYSTEMS.