THE E-BEAM GUN AND RELEATED COMPOENENT DESIGN FOR PULSED CO2 LASER FOR WINDSAT TRANSMITTER

A DESIGN-PHASE PROGRAM IS PROPOSED FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE E-BEAM GUN FOR THE AIR FORCE WINDSAT PULSED CO(2) TRANSMITTER. A TECHNICAL ACCOUNT IS PRESENTED I WHICH IT IS SHOWN THAT THE E-BEAM GUN DESIGN IS INTIMATELY RELATED TO THE PLASMA CHAMBER DESIGN AND THE OTHER CRITICAL COMPONENTS OF THE TRANSMITTER. AS A RESULT OF THIS, THE PROPOSED DESIGN-PHASE WILL COVER AN ITEM-BY-ITEM INSPECTION OF THE ENTIRE TRANSMITTER ALONG THE LINES OUTLINED IN THIS PROPOSAL. WITH RESPECT TO THE FREQUENCY STABILITY REQUIREMENT, THE CAUSES FOR THE INTRAPULSE REFRACTIVE INDEX VARIATION OF THE CO(2) GAIN MEDIUM, WHICH RESULT IN FREQUENCY CHIRP AND INSTABILITIES, ARE QUANTITATIVELY ANALYZED. THE RESULT REVEALS THE POSSIBILITY FOR CONTROLLING THE CHIRP AND MINIMIZING ITS RATE TO A VALUE BELOW THE REQUIRED 200 KHZ LIMIT OVER THE 10 MICRO SEC DURATION OF THE LASER PULSE. THE PROPOSED DESIGN-PHASE WILL FORMULATE A HARDWARE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM, TO BE IMPLEMENTED IN PHASE II, ADDRESSED TO THE ENGINEERING OF A FLYABLE, E-BEAM-SUSTAINED PULSED CO(2) TRANSMITTER. THIS WILL INCLUDE THE DEVELOPMENT OF A DURABLE E-BEAM GUN CATHODE, LONG LIFETIME FOIL, ARCH-PREVENTION DIVERTER (CROWBAR) CIRCUIT, PLASMA CHAMBER ENGINEERING, AND OTHER CRITICAL COMPONENTS. THE RELEVANCE OF THIS WORK TO THE DEVELOPING MARKETS FOR ACCURATE DOPPLER-RANGE LASER RADAR IS PRESENTED.