The preparation of an explicit Request for Quotation (RFQ) and the subsequent hardware procurement by contract very frequently can: a. effect significant cost savings b. provide both technical and executive training for the engineers involved c. aid a company in meeting overall hardware development schedules To achieve these advantages, the RFQ package must contain a technical specification which documents the hardware requirements in terms of performance, and a work statement which structures the entire procurement by specifically defining the required tasks, schedules, mutual responsibilities, and criteria for hardware acceptance. A simple, easy-to-follow method for preparing Performance Specifications and Work Statements is described for the guidance of engineers wishing to achieve the many advantages of contract procurement.

The panel discusses the relative merits and problems of specifying an optical system by its ultimate end-use performance as opposed to the procurement of the system by detailed drawings of each of the piece-parts. The panel consisted of:

The OMEGA laser irradiation facility is described with particular emphasis on the laser system, target system and control room. Some of the major systeths integration efforts are explained as well as their interactions. Design considerations and their impact on system performance and schedule are discussed. The problems of operating a users' facility for laser interaction experiments are mentioned. The Laboratory for Laser Energetics at the University of Rochester has designed and is preparing to construct a 30 terawatt neodymium glass laser irradiation facility, called OMEGA, for experiments in laser fusion. This paper describes the various subsystems contained in the facility and some of the requirements for system integration. A detailed description of the Beam Synchronization Subsystem is included as a specific example of the complex systems integration effort involved in the construction of the OMEGA system. OMEGA is designed as a National "Users" facility for laser-matter interaction studies on spherical targets. Figure 1 lists the general system objectives in terms of the overall characteristics and requirements for this sort of facility.

Raytheon Company, under contract to the University of Rochester Laboratory for Laser Energetics, has performed a preliminary Systems Engineering Analysis of the Omega-Ten System with particular emphasis on the Optical Adjustment and Control Subsystem (OACS). This paper describes the elements of the Omega-Ten Laser Subsystem, the OACS used to align the Laser Subsystem and the error budget for this alignment subsystem.

A Laser Unequal Path Interferometer (LUPI) was constructed for use at 1.06 microns. This paper presents the design tradeoff considerations in choosing an unequal path versus an equal path interferometer. Thermal perturbations and the solutions are discussed and component descriptions are presented. The means of viewing the resultant interferograms and recording them on film are also described.

Uniform illumination of spherical laser fusion targets requires the use of fast f-number multi-lens focusing systems. The University of Rochester Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) is presently in the design stages of a 24 beam Nd:glass laser system which will be used for fusion experiments. The target illumination system will consist of 24 multi-element f/1.6 lenses held in a symmetrical opposing beam geometry. This paper will summarize the results of a focusing system design study conducted by Itek Corporation for the University of Rochester, and further work performed at LLE.

This paper describes two programs developed at Itek which are applicable to Laser Fusion focussing systems. The first program describes a diffraction based point spread function algorithm to calculate Irradiance profiles on spherical pellet surfaces. Classical aberrations, apodization functions, measured wavefronts and pellet adsorption factors can be specified to give accurate irradiance profiles. Thb second program describes the convolution algorithm for calculating multiple beam irradiance contours. Pellet decentration and random pointing errors for each beam channel can be input to specify tolerances using the RMS irradiance quality factor. Sample calculations are included to illustrate the flexibility of the programs to analyze Laser Fusion focussing systems.

Construction of the Shiva laser system is nearing completion. This laser will be operating in fall 1977 and will produce over 20 terawatts of focusable power in a subnanosecond pulse. Fusion experiments will begin early in 1978. It is anticipated that thermonuclear energy release equal to one percent that of the incident light energy will be achieved with sub-millimeter deuterium-tritium targets. From other experiments densities in excess of a thousand times that of liquid are also expected.

The optical system in the camera on the Viking Lander is described. A pair of these cameras on each of two landers have operated on Mars since July 20 and September 3 of 1976. The optical system consists of a F/5.6 three-element lens, a scanning mirror, an external window, and a detector assembly. The lens has a performance that gives 89% modulation at an image frequency of 0.08° per cycle.

An A.C. interference microscope based on a technique called phase-locked interferometry has been constructed. The instrument is capable of detecting phase differences approaching λ/100. It may be used for measuring surface features (roughness, curvature) or transparent phase objects such as gradient index materials, microballoons and biological samples.

A lens design for generating holograms on a laser beam deflector is described. The deflector is a rotating cylindrical surface on which several transmission type volume holograms are recorded, analogous to a multifacetted rotating mirror. The holograms are recorded at a wavelength of 488.0 nm and reconstructed at 632.8. The reconstructed beam is required to be near diffraction limited on a flat field and have a linear scan with respect to the rotation of the cylinder over ±8 degrees. The resulting design is an air-spaced doublet with spherical surfaces which is used off-axis to the generating beam. The wavefront aberration in the reconstruction was reduced from 0.6 waves RMS to 0.06 waves RMS. The methods used for defining the hologram and designing the lens will be described.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for that very fine introduction - Ladies and Gentlemen, Society Members, and Guests.... Have you heard that first liner before? Well, I hope so because we're here to relate to a degree of accepted and documented consistency - standardization.

Using the Lockheed. Alternate Partial Polarizer Universal Filter technique, we have designed and built a tunable wideband birefringent filter that is all plastic. The plastics are polyvinyl alcohol and plastic polarizer. Using lamination techniques a 60 Å bandpass tunable filter has been constructed. The filter operates from 4200-8000 Å. A single knob tunes the filter by rotating po1arizers. Clear apertures of 10 to 30 cm can be constructed, with plastic filters. The cone angle can be 60° . The design, characteristics, and applications of these plastic filters are presented below.

System integration related to rangefinder/designator development is discussed and significant problems and areas of potential concern elucidated. The complex interaction between technology development and system integration is described in some detail and fruitful technical management tools indicated.

The integration of an optical system design into a missile seeker is subject to a wide range of constraints which stem from the hostile physical environment in which a weapon seeker must operate, coupled with the intrinsic demand for the highest integrity in the gyro-optical components. This paper briefly describes the process used to derive principal requirements for a typical electro-optical system and describes, as an example, the design evolution of the Redeye seeker. The design of the optics, its operating principles, and the mutual interaction between optical system and gyroscope characteristics are described. The paper concludes with a summary of advanced EO seekers which have presented similar challenges in terms of optical system integration.

Forward Looking Infra Red (FLIR) systems have become an important addition to the family of surveillance and fire control sensors associated with a variety of military weapon systems. These systems, operating primarily within the 8 to 14 micrometer atmospheric window, provide a real time image of ground, surface or air targets. Since the image results from the thermal contrast differences between targets and backgrounds, no external light source, such as moonlight, is necessary for operation at night. The systems were first used extensively during Southeast Asia operations in the late 1960's, where their main drawbacks were cost, size and weight. These latter problems were addressed over the past 5 years and a common design has evolved which results in compact, affordable systems which meet 80% of known DoD needs.

OCCULT is a CO2 laser heterodyne communications system conceived to meet the Navy's need for ship-to-ship communications with high immunity to jamming and intercept. The opto-mechanical systems integration in the development of OCCULT was instrumental in demonstrating the first use of automatic acquisition, high data rate, narrow beam optical communications between ships at sea.