Optoelectronically Steerable Laser Oscillator (OSLO)

The difficulties posed by high-speed, large-angle scanning of laser beams have plagued electro-optic systems engineers for decades. As a solution to some of these difficulties, we propose a novel technique which offers two-axis, high-speed scanning in a random access mode. The technique differs radically from those pursued previously, in that it is an intracavity technique; i.e., its implementation results in a laser oscillator wherein the axis of the output beam is steered optoelectronically. As such, we refer to the device as an Optoelectronically Steerable Laser Oscillator (OSLO). We propose to build a proof-of-principle OSLO which employs a Nd:YAG gain medium and which is predicted to produce an average power of about 1 watt. Beam divergence when randomly accessing a 64 x 64 array is less than 1 milliradian. for raster-scanner, we project scan rates of 100,000 to 200,000 lines per second. The proposed program encompasses an experimental verification of OSLO output power, output beam divergence, angular resolution, and interangle switching speed. Complementing the experimental activities, we propose to refine our preliminary theoretical model of OSLO operation and to undertake a "first look" at the integration of OSLOs into representative laser systems.