HIGH-SPEED GATED DETECTOR

Q-DOT PROPOSES A NOVEL, HIGH-SPEED LASER RANGING DETECTOR FOR USE UNDERWATER. A SOLID-STATE, SEGMENTED DETECTOR IS USED IN PLACE OF A PMT. SINCE THE DETECTOR CAN HANDLE HUGE (E.G., 1,000 TO 1,000,000 TIMES FULL SCALE) OVERLOADS AND RECOVER TO FULL SENSITIVITY AS QUICKLY AS A FEW NANOSECONDS, IT WILL HANDLE BACKSCATTER VERY WELL. SHARP RANGE-GATE RESOLUTION IS AFFORDED BY RANGE GATES AS NARROW AS 2 NS (0.75'). RANGE RESOLUTION AS FINE AS 0.1 NS (P.O4') APPEARS TO BE FEASIBLE, PROVIDED THAT ADEQUATE PULSE SYNCHRONIZATION IS POSSIBLE. FINALLY, THIS SAME DETECTOR CAN BE OPERATED IN AN IMAGING MODE WITH PROGRAMMABLE SUBARRAY SIZING. THUS, A SINGLE DETECTOR IS OPERABLE IN SEVERAL MODES TO TRACK MISSION REQUIREMENTS AS THEY DEVELOP.