High Energy Laser Program Research Articles

United States army tactical high-energy laser program

The tactical high energy laser (THEL) program, conducted from 1996 to 2005, successfully demonstrated the capability of a high-energy laser to counter rockets, artillery, and mortars. The program was a US/Israeli cooperative research and development effort that was designated by the Secretary of Defense as an advanced concept technology demonstration with Presidential interest. The THEL system was designed and built under an SMDC/ARSTART prime contract awarded to TRW (now, Northrop Grumman Corporation), jointly managed by the Israel Ministry of Defence Directorate of Defence Research & Development. We summarize the effort and highlight some of the firsts of the THEL program.

High Energy Laser Systems for Short Range Defense

The advantages of the use of high energy laser systems in a counter rocket, artillery and mortar projectile mission are described. The history of the development of directed energy weapons in the United States Army and the current high energy laser programs and technologies are outlined. The U.S. Army vision for future ground combat relies on high mobility, lightweight systems with improved survivability. Without the protection afforded by heavy armor, other methods for protecting assets and personnel are required. The Army is now developing the technologies for a future mobile solid state laser weapon system to defeat a wide range of air and ground threats, working to get these revolutionary weapons to our soldiers in the near future.

Design And Construction Of Three Infrared Ellipsometers For Thin Film Research

The University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI) has de-signed and built three infrared ellipsometers in support of the Air Force high energy laser program. One of these instruments is a conventional null-type ellipsometer for operation in the 3.39 to 4.00 um wavelength range. Ellipsometric parameters are determined with a precision of 0.01 ° at any angle of incidence from 20 ° to 85 °. Repeatability and absolute accuracy also approach 0.01 °, which yields optical constants accurate to 0.1 percent in some cases. All components are mounted on removable carriers for easy interchange, although operation is normally in the PCSA (polarizer, compensator, sample, analyzer) configuration. The system software has special provisions for the second instrument, which is also a null-type ellipsometer dedicated to monitoring vacuum deposited coatings in real time at 3.39 Am. The software can model nonideal components in the optical path using Jones or Mueller matrices and provide completely corrected data with a single zone measurement after the instrument is characterized. The third instrument is a rotating polarizer, automated ellipsometer tunable from 1 to 12µm. A dedicated computer operates the instrument and reduces data.