APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING MULTIPLE TIME-DIVISION MULTIPLEXED INDEPENDENTLY CONTROLLABLE PULSED BEAMS FROM A SINGLE, PULSED LASER OUTPUT-BEAM

摘要

An output beam (16) from a laser (12) is directed into an acousto-optic cell (22). The laser beam (16) includes repeated sequences of two or more pulses. The acousto-optic cell (22) is sequentially driven by RF voltages at two or more frequencies. A portion of the laser output beam is diffracted by the acousto-optic cell (22) at two or more different angles to the laser output beam. This provides two or more secondary beams. One of the secondary beams includes only the first pulses of the sequences; the other includes only the second pulses of the sequences. The duration of the pulses in the laser beam (16) is controlled to control time-averaged power in the secondary beams.