Expand this Topic clickable element to expand a topic
Skip to content
Optica Publishing Group

High-power lasers for directed-energy applications

Not Accessible

Your library or personal account may give you access

Abstract

In this article, we review and discuss the research programs at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) on high-power lasers for directed-energy (DE) applications in the atmosphere. Physical processes affecting propagation include absorption/scattering, turbulence, and thermal blooming. The power levels needed for DE applications require combining a number of lasers. In atmospheric turbulence, there is a maximum intensity that can be placed on a target that is independent of the initial beam spot size and laser beam quality. By combining a number of kW-class fiber lasers, scientists at the NRL have successfully demonstrated high-power laser propagation in a turbulent atmosphere and wireless recharging. In the NRL experiments, four incoherently combined fiber lasers having a total power of 5 kW were propagated to a target 3.2 km away. These successful high-power experiments in a realistic atmosphere formed the basis of the Navy’s Laser Weapon System. We compare the propagation characteristics of coherently and incoherently combined beams without adaptive optics. There is little difference in the energy on target between coherently and incoherently combined laser beams for multi-km propagation ranges and moderate to high levels of turbulence. Unlike incoherent combining, coherent combining places severe constraints on the individual lasers. These include the requirement of narrow power spectral linewidths in order to have long coherence times as well as polarization alignment of all the lasers. These requirements are extremely difficult for high-power lasers.

© 2015 Optical Society of America

Full Article  |  PDF Article
More Like This
High-power lasers for directed-energy applications: comment

Mikhail A. Vorontsov and Thomas Weyrauch
Appl. Opt. 55(35) 9950-9953 (2016)

Atmospheric propagation and combining of high-power lasers

W. Nelson, P. Sprangle, and C. C. Davis
Appl. Opt. 55(7) 1757-1764 (2016)

Optics research at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory

Craig Hoffman, T. G. Giallorenzi, and Leo B. Slater
Appl. Opt. 54(31) F268-F285 (2015)

Cited By

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Cited by links are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an Optica member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Login to access Optica Member Subscription

Figures (11)

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Figure files are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an Optica member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Login to access Optica Member Subscription

Equations (8)

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Equations are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an Optica member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Login to access Optica Member Subscription

Select as filters


Select Topics Cancel
© Copyright 2024 | Optica Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved