Attribution and Retaliation - Random-Access Multi-Beam Oscillator (RAMBO)

Precision optical sensing of short-dwell-time targets - The past several decades have witnessed steady increases both in the number and the variety of optical sensors employed in guided weapons. As laser sources have become more efficient andcost-effective, this range of sensors has extended to target discrimination, over-the-horizon terminal guidance, terrain avoidance, Doppler imaging LADAR, and proximity fusing. This has created a growing demand for lasers with outputs which can be steeredwithin an extensive field. Responding to this need, we propose to develop a compact low-cost laser; the output of which can be switched internally so as to emerge from one of several exit ports in a random-access fashion. Electro-optic port-to-portswitching occurs internal to the resonator; thereby eliminating the alignment and crosstalk issues which arise with separate source and switch configurations. Further features of the source include its high pulse rate and its ability to providerandom-access switching in a time which is less than its interpulse period. Proof-of-concept experiments have separately demonstrated the accommodation of several tens of ports and the generation of 30-ns pulses at a pulse rate of 20 kHZ and an averagepower of several watts. The technology represented by the development of the RAMBO concept has direct application to a wide variety of commercial fields; prominent amongst which are precision machining, LADAR, telecommunications, and laser printing, toname but a few.