Intelligent Automation, Inc. — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: A18-129

Description

The steering of optical axes has become a part of many systems, and is typically achieved using a mechanical steering mechanism. In order to integrate HEL weapons onto SWaP constrained platforms, a small, lightweight, agile beam steering system (BSS) with microradian accuracy is required. Intelligent Automation, Inc. (IAI) and Boulder Nonlinear Systems (BNS) propose to develop a Liquid Crystal Polarization Gratings (LCPG) to be positioned at the output aperture of the HEL where the power/energy density is low. The proposed LCPG solution consists of stages stacked along the optical axis; the number and construction of the stages are determined by the required field of regard and steering resolution. The random access control of an LCPG-based steering system (access to any pointing angle without slewing) provides high speed for multiple target engagements and high accuracy tracking. Though LCPGs are inherently single wavelength devices, a key innovation of our approach is a technique for steering multiple lasers located within a wide band. To improve throughput, we will explore stage-level transmission improvements and two-device steering systems that have coarse and fine steering devices. The IAI-BNS team has the prior experience and technical expertise to develop this next generation BSS.