Wide Field of View Scanned Laser Radar System with No Moving Parts

Laser radars which use mechanical systems to scan the beams have several limitations. In addition to the size, weight and power budgets necessary to incorporate and operate them, there are the issues of reliability, maintenance and survivability. Flexibility to vary the scanned field of view and to concentrate on individual items of interest is extremely desirable. An electronically scanned laser that has no moving parts overcomes all the above shortcomings. A linear array of addressable microchip lasers directed through a divergent lens system is proposed. The microchip lasers will be sequentially addressable, lens system is and operated in a Q-switched mode. When combined with either single-element or CCD-array detectors, a compact, low-power, high-resolution laser radar can be achieved, which is effective for such applications as: battlefield target acquisition, classification and tracking, high resolution remote sensing and terrain profiling.