Laser power and brightness scaling, in “eye safe” atmospheric transmission windows, is driving laser system research and development. High power lasers with good beam quality, at wavelength around 2.1 µm, are necessary for optical countermeasure applications. For such applications, focusing on efficiency and compactness of the system is mandatory. In order to cope with these requirements, one must consider the use of laser diodes which emit directly in the desired spectral region. The challenge for these diodes is to maintain a good beam quality factor as the output power increases. 2 µm diodes with excellent beam quality in both axes are available with output powers of ~100 mW. Therefore, in order to reach multi-watt of average output power, broad-area single emitters and beam combining becomes relevant. Different solutions have been implemented in the 1.9 to 2 µm wavelength range, one of which is to stack multiple emitter bars reaching more than one hundred watt, while another is a fibre coupled diode module. The beam propagation factor of these systems is too high for long atmospheric propagation applications. Here we describe preliminary results on non-coherent beam combining of 2.1 µm high power Fabry-Perot GaSb laser diodes supplied by Brolis Semiconductors Ltd. First we evaluated single mode diodes (143 mW) with good beam quality (M2 < 1.5 for slow axis and < 1.1 for fast axis). Then we characterized broad-area single emitter diodes (808 mW) with an electrical-to-optical efficiency of 19 %. The emitter width was 90 µm with a cavity length of 1.5 mm. In our experiments we found that the slow axis multimode output beam consisted of two symmetric lobes with a total full width at half maximum (FWHM) divergence angle of 25 degrees, corresponding to a calculated beam quality factor of M2 = 25. The fast axis divergence was specified to be 44 degrees, with an expected beam quality factor close to the diffraction limit, which informed our selection of collimation lenses used in the experiment. We evaluated two broadband (1.8 - 3 µm) AR coated Geltech aspheric lenses with focal lengths of 1.87 mm and 4 mm, with numerical apertures of 0.85 and 0.56, respectively, as an initial collimation lens, followed by an additional cylindrical lens of focal length 100 mm for fully collimating the slow axis. Using D-shaped gold-coated mirrors, multiple single emitter beams are stacked in the fast axis direction with the objective that the combined beam has a beam propagation factor in the stacking direction close to the beam propagation factor of the slow axis of a single emitter, e.g. M2 of 20 to 25 in both axes. We further found that the output beam of a single emitter is highly linearly polarized along the slow axis, making it feasible to implement polarization beam combining techniques to increase the beam power by a factor two while maintaining the same beam quality. Along with full beam characterization, a power scaling strategy towards a multi-watt output power beam combining laser system will be presented.

We report on a 2kW GTWave single mode fibre laser with low SRS level, and discuss power scaling challenges where both SRS level and TMI must be mitigated.

Magnifying optical assemblies used for weapon guidance or rifle scopes may possess a threat for a combat vehicle and its personnel. Detection and localisation of optical threats is consequently of interest in military applications. Typically a laser system is used in optics detection, or optical augmentation, to interrogate a scene of interest to localise retroreflected laser radiation. One interesting approach for implementing optics detection on a combat vehicle is to use a continuous scanning scheme. In addition, optics detection can be combined with laser countermeasures, or a laser dazzling function, to efficiently counter an optical threat. An optics detection laser sensor demonstrator has been implemented on a combat vehicle. The sensor consists of a stabilised gimbal and was integrated together with a LEMUR remote electro-optical sight. A narrow laser slit is continuously scanned around the horizon to detect and locate optical threats. Detected threats are presented for the operator within the LEMUR presentation system, and by cueing a countermeasure laser installed in the LEMUR sensor housing threats can be defeated. Results obtained during a field demonstration of the optics detection sensor and the countermeasure laser will be presented. In addition, results obtained using a dual-channel optics detection system designed for false alarm reduction are also discussed.

Electro-optically (EO) guided surface to air missiles (SAM) have developed to use Ultraviolet (UV) wavebands supplementary to the more common Infrared (IR) wavebands. Missiles such as the US Stinger have been around for some time but are not considered a proliferation risk. The Chinese FN-16 and Russian SA-29 (Verba) are considered a much higher proliferation risk. As a result, models of the missile seekers must be developed to understand the characteristics of the seeker and the potential performance enhancement that are included. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to introduce the steps that have been taken to characterise and model these missiles. It begins by outlining some of the characteristics of the threats, the key elements of a UV scene, the potential choice of waveband for a detector, the initial modelling work to represent the UV detector of the missile and presents initial results. The modelling shows that the UV detection range of a typical aircraft is dependent on both the size of the aircraft and its reflectivity. However, the strength of this correlation is less than expected. As a result, further work is required to model more seeker types and to investigate what is causing the weak correlations found in these initial investigations. In addition, there needs to be further study of the sensitivities of the model to other variables, such as the modelled detectivity of the detector and the signal to noise ratio assumed. Overall, the outcome of this work will be to provide specifications for aircraft size and reflectivity that limit the effectiveness of the UV channels.

The quantum-cascade laser (QCL) emitting in the mid-infrared region of 4 to 8 m has been refined to the point that its internal quantum efficiency is approaching fundamental limits. QCLs designed for power typically contain 30-40 cascades, are less than two wavelengths in width, and laser ridge lengths are typically between 3 and 6 mm. Even with state-of-the-art efficiency and thermal management, room temperature operation of such lasers is fundamentally limited to several watts. This paper describes a path to power scaling that is not fundamentally limited. Power requires volume and thermal conductance. We propose that this combination is best achieved using fewer than 15 cascades combined with broad areas. We demonstrate the first room temperature continuous-wave emission of broad-area QCLs and discuss how this scaling concept can deliver MIR emission of 10's of watts at room temperature with beam quality required for high brilliance.

In this paper, the development of algorithms for autonomously adjusting sensors with anti-aliasing techniques is discussed. In the current world environment of rapidly changing and progressing technologies, adaptability is the lynchpin for success. Tunable sources, such as Quantum Cascade Lasers (QCLs), are becoming more common to address the adaptability need on the proactive side. It follows that sensors themselves must then be able to expand and adapt to aid in this endeavor. The research outlined in this paper further explores the relationship between the frame rate of a sensor and the modulation frequency of an incoming signal. Signals modulated at frequencies matching or near the frame rate of a sensor cause aliasing effects more consistently and frequently than those further from the sensor's frame rate. These situations affect the sensor's accuracy in these regions, creating a "blind spot" for the sensor where fluctuations in the signal are indistinguishable from frame to frame. The relationship between the frame rate of a sensor and the modulation frequency of a signal, quantified by a change in irradiance from frame to frame, was previously explored. From these primary findings, an algorithm was developed utilizing a method analogous to that of on-off keying, to improve frame rate adaptability. This algorithm was tested and expanded to include more complex scenarios. The potential for this method, including further testing, project scope and direction, as well as future complexities involving the inclusion of a feedback loop to the laser modulation controller are presented. The paper concludes with discussions on applications of these results to improve current and future sensor technology development, testing, and characterization.

The paper addresses the topic of the electro-optical energy conversion in mid-infrared high power QCL to support designers of optical countermeasure systems in assessing the utility of QCLs for their applications and in specifying the laser sub-system properly. We propose a quadratic dependence of the optical output power on the pump current (L-I curve) in order to reflect the influence of Stark shifting of the energy levels and of heating of the electrons in the planes perpendicular to the current direction. Formulae are given which relate the L-I model parameters to descriptors of these two effects. The model is simple enough to be implemented in system level simulations of the QCL performance in different modes of operations.

Although performance remains paramount, especially in defense and security applications, cost increasingly drives the implementation strategy for existing and emerging infrared imaging systems. In this paper, we review two technologies that leverage mainstream Si IC technology and infrastructure to increase manufacturability and throughput and decrease the cost of infrared focal plane arrays. In the first example, we review a wafer-level vacuum packaging approach which replaces die-at-a-time serial approaches with a parallel process in which vacuum enclosures for hundreds of microbolometer arrays are formed simultaneously. The second example is a novel nanostructured short-wave infrared sensor developed at RTI International that can be monolithically integrated with Si CMOS at wafer scale.

Manufacturing of electro-optic products for military environments poses a large number of apparently intractable and mutually contradictory problems. The ability to successfully engage in this area presents an intellectual challenge of a high order. The Advanced Targeting Sector of Leonardo’s Airborne and Space Systems Division, based in Edinburgh, has developed a successful range of electro-optic products and transitioned these into a volume, and high value, manufacturing environment. As products cycle through the design process, there has been strong feedback from users, suppliers, and most importantly from our manufacturing organization, that has driven evolution of our design practices. It is fair to say that recent pointer trackers and lasers bear little resemblance to those designed and built 10 years ago. Looking ahead, this process will only continue. There are interesting technologies that will drive improvements in manufacturability, reliability and usability of electro-optic products. Examples might include freeform optics, additive manufacture of metal components, and laser welding of optics to metals, to name but a few. These have uses across our product portfolio and, when sufficiently matured, will have a major impact on the product quality and reliability

Building on Selex ES’s unique experience in this domain, the Miysis DIRCM System is the culmination of over nine years of extensive development, test, validation and certification, resulting in a twin-head, spherical coverage DIRCM system that is less than 40kg and is capable of protecting the full range of platform types from the smallest helicopters to the largest transport aircraft. This paper discusses some of the benefits that have been achieved from the application of advanced EO technology to the Miysis DIRCM System, and also considers some of the system trades a designer may have to undertake, including some implications more advanced seeker designs may have on EO/IRCM system design and architecture. The extensive test and evaluation that was undertaken at every stage of the programme, including simulation, laboratory testing, platform and target dynamic testing in a System Integration Laboratory (SIL), flight trial, missile live-fire, environmental testing and reliability testing, all of which was required in order to ensure that the system provides the requisite levels of protection against the latest, sophisticated all-aspect IR MANPADS is also covered. Finally, the approach necessary to ensure that the equipment is suited to all air platforms from the smallest helicopters to large transports, while also ensuring that it achieves an inherent high reliability and an ease of manufacture and repair such that a step change in through-life cost in comparison to previous generation systems can be achieved is described.

For performance modelling of optical countermeasure systems simulation of turbulence effects is necessary. Physical optics numerical beam propagation using phase screens is an established method in this respect. In some cases a short sequence of temporally resolved phase screens is available from Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations or from wavefront sensor measurements. It is, however, seldom possible to provide enough sequences and sufficient sequence length for Monte Carlo simulations of system performance utilizing these methods. Therefore, we have investigated the possibility to generate an arbitrary number of longer temporal sequences of phase screens with the same statistical properties for simulation of turbulence, based on an available short phase screen sequence. The method apply Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD), a method used to generate orthogonal modes from a dataset. For discretely sampled sequences the Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) algorithm is suitable to extract the set of POD modes. This scheme provides a separate temporal sequence of coefficients for each spatial mode. The next step is to generate new, longer temporal sequences of coefficients with the same statistical properties as those extracted by the SVD algorithm. Finally a new sequence of phase screens is generated by adding all spatial modes. The method is illustrated using data from CFD calculations of a down-scaled jet engine plume. The method is especially suitable for very strong localized turbulence as in aero optics and engine exhaust plumes, but may be useful also for extended turbulence. The use to generate Power-In-Bucket (PIB) sequences for evaluation of turbulence distortion effects is demonstrated. PIB is an important quantity when evaluating e.g. the performance of directed infrared countermeasure (DIRCM) systems.

The propagation environment around airborne platforms may significantly degrade the performance of Electro-Optical (EO) self-protection systems installed onboard. To ensure the sufficient level of protection, it is necessary to understand that are the best sensors/effectors installation positions to guarantee that the aeromechanical turbulence, generated by the engine exhausts and the rotor downwash, does not interfere with the imaging systems normal operations.

Since the radiation-propagation-in-turbulence is a hardly predictable process, it was proposed a high-level approach in which, instead of studying the medium under turbulence, the turbulence effects on the imaging systems processing are assessed by means of an equivalent statistical model representation, allowing a definition of a Turbulence index to classify different level of turbulence intensities.

Hence, a general measurement methodology for the degradation of the imaging systems performance in turbulence conditions was developed. The analysis of the performance degradation started by evaluating the effects of turbulences with a given index on the image processing chain (i.e., thresholding, blob analysis). The processing in turbulence (PIT) index is then derived by combining the effects of the given turbulence on the different image processing primitive functions.

By evaluating the corresponding PIT index for a sufficient number of testing directions, it is possible to map the performance degradation around the aircraft installation for a generic imaging system, and to identify the best installation position for sensors/effectors composing the EO self-protection suite.

The presented work gives an overview on the efforts of the NATO SET-198 research task group. It comprises nonrestricted material, which is already published or is to be published in journals. Main topics are the development and validation of computer models in order to understand the impact of laser dazzling on the detection of objects in a scene but also on the accomplishment of visual-based tasks. The work includes laboratory and field dazzling tests on sensors and humans, computer eye-dazzle modeling, automatic character recognition and laboratory observer trials for validation purposes of the used algorithms. The impact of dazzling is studied in dependence of laser wavelength, laser power and camera type.

This paper presents experimental work on the use of a CO2 laser for triggering of PIR sensors. Pyro-electric InfraRed sensors are often used as motion detectors for detection of moving persons or objects that are warmer than their environment. Apart from uses in the civilian domain, also applications in improvised weapons have been encountered. In such applications the PIR sensor triggers a weapon, when moving persons or vehicles are detected. A CO2 laser can be used to project a moving heat spot in front of the PIR, generating the same triggering effect as a real moving object. The goal of the research was to provide a basis for assessing the feasibility of the use of a CO2 laser as a countermeasure against PIR sensors.

After a general introduction of the PIR sensing principle a theoretical and experimental analysis of the required power levels will be presented. Based on this quantitative analysis, a set up for indoor experiments to trigger the PIR devices remotely with a CO2 laser was prepared. Finally some selected results of the experiments will be presented. Implications for the use as a countermeasure will be discussed.

The increase in availability and application of various laser sources poses an increasing threat to the human eye. Not only the actual damage dealt to the retina or other parts of the eye, but also dazzling during critical tasks has to be faced. However, experiments to verify the actual threat due to dazzling are quite critical, as it is almost never possible or even reasonable, to dazzle human observers.

Based on this dilemma, we propose to construct a camera that mimics the perception of laser dazzle by the human eye as close as possible. The human eye camera consists of hardware and a software component, which perform the several tasks of the eye. The hardware controls the eye-movement (saccadic viewing), the adaption of the iris (irradiance control) and the projection of the image onto a sensor. The software receives the image taken by the sensor and includes the density of receptors, the retinal neural operations and a feedback to the hardware. The processed images by the virtual retina are meant to be used to evaluate the degree of dazzling, as it would occur to a human observer.

We present the latest results of our work regarding the evaluation of protection measures against laser dazzling for imaging devices. Three different approaches for the evaluation of dazzled sensor images are investigated and compared to estimate the loss of information due to the dazzle spot by a) counting the number of overexposed pixels, b) based on triangle orientation discrimination (TOD) and c) using the structural similarity (SSIM) index.

The performance evaluation approaches are applied on experimental data obtained with two different imaging sensors hardened against laser dazzling. The hardening concept of the first sensor is based on the combination of a spatial light modulator and wavelength multiplexing. This active protection concept allows spatially and spectrally resolved suppression of laser radiation within the sensor's field of view. The hardening concept of the second sensor utilizes the principle of “complementary bands”. The optical setup resembles a common 3-chip camera, with the difference that dedicated filters with steep edges replace the regular spectral band filters. Although this concept does not really represent a “protection measure”, it allows the sensor to provide information even in laser dazzling situations.

The data for the performance evaluation was acquired both in a dedicated laboratory setup using test charts comprising triangles of different size and orientation as well as in field trials.

The potential threat of recently-advertised anti-ship missiles has instigated research at the United States (US) Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) into the improvement of measurement techniques for visual band countermeasures. The goal of measurements is the collection of radiometric imagery for use in the building and validation of digital models of expendable countermeasures. This paper will present an overview of measurement requirements unique to the visual band and differences between visual band and infrared (IR) band measurements. A review of the metrics used to characterize signatures in the visible band will be presented and contrasted to those commonly used in IR band measurements. For example, the visual band measurements require higher fidelity characterization of the background, including improved high-transmittance measurements and better characterization of solar conditions to correlate results more closely with changes in the environment. The range of relevant engagement angles has also been expanded to include higher altitude measurements of targets and countermeasures. In addition to the discussion of measurement techniques, a top-level qualitative summary of modeling approaches will be presented. No quantitative results or data will be presented.

Different types of high power or high energy lasers in the multi kW class are currently available or are under development with promising progress reports. A major challenge is to deliver as much as possible of the available power onto a small and fast moving target over a long distance through a disturbing atmosphere.

High resolution imaging is a common way to identify the category of targets dedication and to determine the spatial position relative to the observer. By illuminating the target with a laser the imaging system becomes more resilient towards ambient light and the exposure time can be reduced drastically. Fast and deterministic control loops are demanding for the moving parts in order to maintain a high accuracy for the pointing of the turret and aiming of the laser countermeasure system.

Here, we report on the progress of such a beam control system developed at the Institute of Technical Physics of DLR. In an overview we present the beam control system and explain different sub-systems. Performance tests were taken at our test. At a distance we simulated various scenarios for probing the limits of the tracking and pointing accuracy with a target on a fast moving linear stage. We present first results of the beam control system performance.

We propose and demonstrate the adaptive conversion of input beam with unsymmetrical intensity distribution into a near-diffraction-limited flattop beam with desired parameters in the near field based on a combination of dual phase-only liquid crystal spatial light modulators (LC-SLMs) and the stochastic parallel gradient descent (SPGD) algorithm. One phase-only LC-SLM redistributes the intensity of the input beam to the desired distributions at the other phase-only LCSLM plane, and the other phase-only LC-SLM compensates the wavefront of the output beam. The SPGD algorithm adaptively optimizes the phase distributions of dual phase-only LC-SLMs to reduce the variance between the actual beam shape and the target beam shape. The experimental results on a prefabricated unsymmetrical input beam show that the technique is capable of adaptively creating near-diffraction-limited flattop beams with desired parameters.

Lasers arouse an increasing interest in remote sensing applications. In order to deliver as much as possible of the available laser power onto a flying object the subsystems of a beam control system have to operate precisely together. One important subsystem is responsible for determination of the target’s angular position.

Here, we focus on an optical system for measuring precisely the angular position of flying objects. We designed this subunit of a beam control system exclusively from readily available commercial-off-the-shelf components. Two industrial cameras were used for angle measuring and for guiding the system to the position of the flying object. Both cameras are mounted on a modified astronomical mount with high-precision angle encoders. To achieve a high accuracy we temporally synchronize the acquisition of the angle from the pan tilt unit with the exposure of the camera. Therefore, a FPGA-based readout device for the rotary encoders was designed and implemented. Additionally, we determined and evaluated the influence of the distortion of the lenses to the measurement.

We investigated various scenarios to determine the accuracy and the limitations of our system for angular position determination of flying targets. Performance tests were taken indoor and outdoor at our test sites. A target can be mounted on a fast moving linear stage. The position of this linear stage is continuously read out by a high resolution encoder so we know the target’s position with a dynamic accuracy in the range of a few μm. With this setup we evaluated the spatial resolution of our tracking system. We showed that the presented system can determine the angular position of fast flying objects with an uncertainty of only 2 μrad RMS. With this mobile tracking system for angular position determination of flying targets we designed an accurate cost-efficient opportunity for further developments.