High-energy laser atmospheric compensation and aimpoint maintenance

摘要

A high-energy laser weapon system in which the high-energy laser beam itself is used to correct for atmospheric fluctuations thereby replacing a separate beacon illuminator system. The high-energy laser is turned off (negative pulse) periodically for a very short period giving a wavefront sensor an opportunity to measure the return of the high-energy laser beam from the target. A wavefront sensor drives a deformable mirror based on this return signal avoiding wavelength anisoplanatism. In addition, the high-energy laser weapon can be snapped ahead of the path of the target during the negative pulse to avoid tilt anisoplanitism.