Abstract

Width modulation of a laser beam produces a far-field diffraction pattern rich in harmonics of the width-modulating frequency as a function of lateral distance from the beam center. A small specular target samples this field, and reflected radiation from the target can be used to close a tracking loop. The concept can be used either as a stand-alone system or as a high-precision addition to conical scan. For transmitter aperture D, the laboratory demonstration yielded crisp lockup on a specular target with an angular track precision of 0.15 λ/D at moderate SNRs.

© 1985 Optical Society of America

Boresighting a Gaussian beam on a specular target point: a method using conical scan

Ahmed Erteza
Appl. Opt. 15(3) 656-660 (1976)

Boresight error in the conical scan method of autoboresighting a laser beam on a specular point-target

Perambur S. Neelakantaswamy and Arthur Rajaratram
Appl. Opt. 21(19) 3607-3612 (1982)

Acoustooptic 2-D profile shaping of a Gaussian laser beam

Yoshihiro Ohtsuka, Yasutomo Arima, and Yoh Imai
Appl. Opt. 24(17) 2813-2819 (1985)

Optical beam shaping of a high power laser for uniform target illumination

Dominique M. Dagenais, James A. Woodroffe, and Irving Itzkan
Appl. Opt. 24(5) 671-675 (1985)

Diffraction and focusing of Gaussian beams

R. M. Herman, John Pardo, and T. A. Wiggins
Appl. Opt. 24(9) 1346-1354 (1985)