Digital Diffraction optics for Adaptive Laser Beam Control

The use of digital diffraction optical elements (1~ DOE) is proposed to modify the output beam of a laser master oscillator (MO) in order to pre-correct for atmospheric aberrations encountered in the path of a high powered laser beam. The pre-corrections can be either in the form of phase or intensity variations on the DDOE. The pattern for the correction, based on proprietary algorithms, will depend upon the signal returned to an atmospheric sampling sensor. The corrections may be carried out in either a static or dynamic mode. In the former, reference corrections will already be available to be inserted into the DDOE; in the latter case, the corrections would take place electronically. The Phase I work will both develop and test the required algorithms for various laser beam front intensity and transverse mode distributions that could interact with various types of atmospheric and laser gain medium turbulence. The result of the Phase I research will demonstrate the feasibility of using DDOEs for enhanced efficiency laser power beaming. The DDOE technology will be available as a binary diffraction software package with a laser resonator optics and beam out capability. Applications for digital diffractive optics, which is an enabling technology include: Optical signal reconstruction, optical interconnects, optical pattern recognition, and mlcro vlslon systems