Optics Health Monitoring

A research and development effort is proposed to investigate and develop instrumentation for automatic, non-intrusive and real-time monitoring of the "health" of optical components in high energy laser (HEL) systems. The objective is: 1) to determine measurable characteristics of the components that are indicative of degradation and strongly predictive of impending failure, and 2) to develop a technique and subsequent monitor that will measure the pertinent characteristics, accurately inform the laser operator of the condition of an optical component, and warn of impending failure. The technique must not interfere with normal laser operation and must be light-weight, portable, automatic and low cost.In the Phase I effort, Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) will investigate several promising techniques and determine the best technique(s) that satisfy the above constraints. These investigations will include a series of carefully designed, proof-of-principle laboratory experiments. The Phase I results will be used to demonstrate the feasibility and predictive value of the proposed technique(s) as well as the feasibility of convering the technique(s) into a reliable monitoring instrument. A prototype monitor with associated controls and data processing would be developed and tested for validation in a subsequent Phase II effort.