SIMULTANEOUS ACOUSTO-OPTIC AND ELECTRO-OPTIC TECHNOLOGY FOR VERY ACCURATE LASER BEAM POINTING

ACOUSTO-OPTIC AND ELECTRO-OPTIC DEFLECTORS CAN BE USED AS A VERY FAST AND ACCURATE LAER BEAM STEERING AND POINTING DEVICES WITH NO MOVING PARTS. COMPARED TO A MECHANICAL GIMBAL, THEY ARE SMALL SIZE (IN A RANGE OF 1/2X1/2X1/2 INCH), LIGHTWEIGHT, AND LOW POWER CONSUMPTION. THE LATEST TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES IN HIGH FREQUENCY ACOUSTO-OPTIC TECHNOLOGY GIVES THE CAPABILITIES OF 20 MICRORADIANS ACCURACIES OF LASER BEAM POINTING, UP TO 10 DEG ANGULAR SCANNING, AND SIMULTANEOUS BEAM MODULATION. SINCE THERE IS NO MECHANICALLY MOVING ELEMENTS, THE AO AND E-O DEVICES ARE VERY WELL SUITABLE FOR FIELD APPLICATIONS IN A VIBRATING ENVIRONMENT. PRESENTLY THE STATE-OF-THE-ART BRIMROSE A-O DEVICES HAVE CAPABILITIES OF 3 DEG SCANNING ANGLES WITH 2000 POINTS RESOLUTION, WHICH TRANSLATES TO 26 MICRORADIANS OF ANGULAR RESOLUTION AT VISIBLE AND NEAR IR LASER WAVELENGTHS. WE WOULD LIKE TO OBTAIN THE SAME ABOVE RESULTS FOR A ONE JOULE ND-YAG SOURCE AT ITS PRIME AND HARMONICALLY GENERATED WAVELENGTHS. IN PHASE I OF THIS PROGRAM, BRIMROSE WILL EVALUATE BOTH TECHNIQUES AND DETERMINE THEIR CAPABILITIES FOR 1.06 UM AND 0.532 UM LASER BEAMS POINTING WIITH 20 MICRORADIANCE OF ANGULAR RESOLUTION AS WELL AS DESIGN THE DEVICE UPON SELECTION OF THE MOST SUITABLE TECHNOLOGY. WE WILL DEFINE THE RELATIONS BETWEEN ANGULAR RESOLUTION, DIFFRACTION EFFICIENCY, AND SCANNING ANGLE. A NEW TYPE OF A SIMULTANEOUS ACOUSTO-ELECTRO-OPTIC (AEO) DEFLECTOR DEVICE WILL BE ANALYZED TO COMBINE THE BEST PROPERTIES OF BOTH TECHNIQUES. THIS DEFLECTOR WILL COMBINE BOTH ACOUSTO-OPTIC AND ELECTRO-OPTIC POINTING TECHNIQUES IN ONE DEVICE. THIS CONCEPT HAS ALREADY SUCCESSFULLY BEEN DEMONSTRATED ON A SBIR PHASE I CONTRACT FROM SDIO FOR 633NM. IN THE LAST 8 YEARS, BRIMROSE HAS BEEN A PIONEER IN DESIGNING AND CONSTRUCTING OF ACOUSTO-OPTIC AND ELECTROOPTIC LASER BEAM SCANNERS, DEFLECTORS, POINTERS, AND MODULATORS.... THE LATEST AND NEWEST PRODUCT DEVELOPED AT BRIMROSE IS AN ACOUSTOELECTRO-OPTIC DEFLECTOR-MODULATOR COMBINING BOTH TECHNOLOGIES IN A ONE SINGLE DEVICE. IN PHASE I, BRIMROSE WILL DESIGN AND FABRICATE A PROOF-OF-CONCEPT SIMULTANEOUS AEO POINTING SYSTEM FOR YAG.