Simulation of atmospheric turbulence compensation through piston-only phase control of a laser phased array

Jack E. McCrae Jr.; Noah Van Zandt; Salvatore J. Cusumano; Steven T. Fiorino

doi:10.1117/12.2016403

23 May 2013 Simulation of atmospheric turbulence compensation through piston-only phase control of a laser phased array

Jack E. McCrae Jr., Noah Van Zandt, Salvatore J. Cusumano, Steven T. Fiorino

Proceedings Volume 8733, Laser Technology for Defense and Security IX; 873311 (2013) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2016403
Event: SPIE Defense, Security, and Sensing, 2013, Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Abstract

Beam propagation from a laser phased array system through the turbulent atmosphere is simulated and the ability of such a system to compensate for the atmosphere via piston-only phase control of the sub-apertures is evaluated. Directed energy (DE) applications demand more power than most lasers can produce, consequently many schemes for high power involve combining the beams from many smaller lasers into one. When many smaller lasers are combined into a phased array, phase control of the individual sub-apertures will be necessary to create a high-quality beam. Phase control of these sub-apertures could then be used to do more, such as focus, steer, and compensate for atmospheric turbulence. Atmospheric turbulence is well known to degrade the performance of both imaging systems and laser systems. Adaptive optics can be used to mitigate this degradation. Adaptive optics ordinarily involves a deformable mirror, but with phase control on each sub-aperture the need for a deformable mirror is eliminated. The simulation conducted here evaluates performance gain for a 127 element phased array in a hexagonal pattern with piston-only phase control on each element over an uncompensated array for varying levels of atmospheric turbulence. While most simulations were carried out against a 10 km tactical scenario, the turbulence profile was adjusted so performance could be evaluated as a function of the Fried Parameter (r0) and the log-amplitude variance somewhat independently. This approach is demonstrated to be generally effective with the largest percentage improvement occurring when r0 is close to the sub-aperture diameter.

Citation Download Citation

Jack E. McCrae Jr., Noah Van Zandt, Salvatore J. Cusumano, and Steven T. Fiorino "Simulation of atmospheric turbulence compensation through piston-only phase control of a laser phased array", Proc. SPIE 8733, Laser Technology for Defense and Security IX, 873311 (23 May 2013); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2016403

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