ULTRAVIOLET WAVEGUIDE LASERS FOR PHASED ARRAY LIDAR

A PROOF OF PRINCIPLE EXPERIMENT IS BEING CONSTRUCTED THAT WILL CLEARLYDEMONSTRATE THE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF ARRAY OPERATION. AN OSCILLATOR AND TWO AMPLIFIER SECTIONS ARE BEING SUBJECTED TO PERFORMANCE TESTS. PHASE ARRAY OPTICAL RADARS OR LIDARS OPERATING WITH RELATIVELY LARGE SYNTHETIC APERTURES CAN EXHIBIT MANY OF THE SAME RAPID POINTING AND TRACKING FEATURES ASSOCIATED WITH MICROWAVE SYSTEMS, AND, IN ADDITION,ARE CAPABLE OF IMAGING DISTANT TARGETS BY SCANNING WITH HIGH RESOLUTION BEAMS. AN ULTRAVIOLET PHASED-ARRAY LIDAR SYSTEM BASED ON NEW BUT PROVEN ULTRAVIOLET WAVEGUIDE TECHNOLOGY WOULD BE CAPABLE OF OPERATION AT HIGH REPETITION RATES WITHOUT GAS FLOW, ELECTRONICALLY VARIABLE PULSE DURATION, IMPROVED OPERATING AND STORAGE LIFETIME, AND ENHANCED OVERALL EFFICIENCY. THE FEASIBILITY IS BEING DEMONSTRATED THAT THESE FEATURES CAN BE ACHIEVED BY A PHASED ARRAY LIDAR WHICH UTILIZES NEW MICROWAVE DISCHARGE XEC1 WAVEGUIDE LASER TECHNOLOGY.