Freeform optics for collimation and coherent beam combination in low-SWaP laser directed energy effectors

Natalia Trela-McDonald; Gilles Diederich; Alex Griffiths; Callum Wreford; Roy McBride

doi:10.1117/12.2618111

30 May 2022 Freeform optics for collimation and coherent beam combination in low-SWaP laser directed energy effectors

Natalia Trela-McDonald, Gilles Diederich, Alex Griffiths, Callum Wreford, Roy McBride

Proceedings Volume PC12092, Laser Technology for Defense and Security XVII; PC1209205 (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2618111
Event: SPIE Defense + Commercial Sensing, 2022, Orlando, Florida, United States

Abstract

Laser directed energy effectors combine the beams from several singlemode optical fiber amplifiers into a single beam with near diffraction-limited divergence. Coherent beam combination achieves this by tiling an aperture with individual beams and co-phasing these beams. Deployment on mobile platforms requires a rugged effector with low size, weight and power consumption. These constraints challenge beam combiner architectures based on discrete optics as power is scaled via channel count. We describe how monolithic arrays of freeform optics solve these problems by providing collimation, beamshaping and high fill-factor aperture tiling for large numbers of fiber channels in a rugged low-SWaP configuration.

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Citation Download Citation

Natalia Trela-McDonald, Gilles Diederich, Alex Griffiths, Callum Wreford, and Roy McBride "Freeform optics for collimation and coherent beam combination in low-SWaP laser directed energy effectors", Proc. SPIE PC12092, Laser Technology for Defense and Security XVII, PC1209205 (30 May 2022); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2618111

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KEYWORDS

Collimation

Directed energy weapons

Freeform optics

Laser energy

Coherent beam combination

Beam shaping

Optical fibers

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