HIGHLY VERSATILE HOLOGRAPHIC IMAGING SYSTEM FOR PLUME PARTICULATES (HISPP)

ONE OF THE MAJOR PROBLEMS IN LASER-TARGET INTERACTION EXPERIMENTS IS THAT THE PARTICULATE MATERIAL EXPELLED IN THE PLUME SCATTERS THE LASER LIGHT OUT OF THE BEAM BEFORE IT IS ABSORBED. TO MEET THE ARMY'S NEEDS TO UNDERSTAND THIS PROCESS, KMS PROPOSES TO DEVELOP A HOLOGRAPHIC PLUME ANALYSIS SYSTEM THAT WILL CAPTURE IMAGES OF THE PLUME FOR DETAILED ANALYSIS. BASED ON ITS 16 YEARS EXPERIENCE IN LASER/MATERIALS INTERACTIONS IN THE INERTIAL CONFINEMENT FUSION PROGRAM, KMS WILL DEFINE A HIGHLY VERSATILE, HOLOGRAPHIC IMAGING SYSTEM FOR PLUME PARTICULATES (HISPP) THAT WILL PROVIDE (A) A DEEP FIELD HOLOGRAPHIC PLUME IMAGES THAT CAN BE ANALYZED FOR PARTICLE SIZE AND DISTRIBUTION, (B) TEMPORAL RESOLUTION WITH MULTIPLE HOLOGRAPHIC IMAGES AT VARIOUS STAGES OF PLUME DEVELOPMENT, (C) AUTOMATED ANALYSIS OF THE PLUME STRUCTURE ACCORDING TO PARTICULATE SIZE THROUGH THE USE OF AN EFFICIENT PARTICULATE ANALYZER SUBSYSTEM, AND (D) A HOLOGRAPHIC SYSTEM THAT IS VERSATILE BUT EASY TO INTEGRATE INTO THE USER EXPERIMENT. KMS WILL ALSO DEVISE AN EXPERIMENTAL PLAN (USING THE KMS CHROMA LASER SYSTEM AS A TEST BED) TO DEMONSTRATE HOLOGRAPHIC IMAGING OF PARTICULATES GENERATED IN LASER-TARGET INTERACTIONS AND TO RECONSTRUCT THE IMAGED HOLOGRAMS.