Amplifiers – Parametric amplifiers – Semiconductor type
Patent
1986-02-26
1988-12-27
Moskowitz, Nelson
Amplifiers
Parametric amplifiers
Semiconductor type
372 18, H01S 323, H01S 330, H01S 3098
Patent
active
047943459
ABSTRACT:
Apparatus, and a corresponding method for its use, for producing a phased array of high-energy laser beams from multiple laser amplifiers. A reference beam produced by a master oscillator senses phase and piston errors in a primary mirror array, and is divided into multiple probe beams, each of which makes multiple passes of its own laser amplifier. The multiple probe beams are together focused into a single phase conjugation cell, which not only produces phase-conjugated reflected beams, to effect compensation for various phase aberrations, but also locks all of the reflected beams together in phase. An arrangement of a birefringent wedge and a quaterwave plate for each of the beams prevents the reflected beams from returning to the master oscillator and facilitates combining of the reflected beams for output as a cophasal array. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, this is accomplished by using the birefringent wedges to deflect each retro-reflected phase-conjugated beam onto the appropriate portion of a monolithic secondary mirror, and then to the primary mirror array.
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Aprahamian Robert
Linford Gary J.
Lombardi Gabriel G.
Marabella Leonard J.
Moyer Richard H.
Goldstein Sol L.
Heal Noel F.
Moskowitz Nelson
TRW Inc.
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