FREEDOM PHOTONICS LLC — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: N181-062

Description

High Energy Laser (HEL) weapons will dramatically transform naval warfare, providing substantial supremacy to the military forces having the most capable HEL systems. However, this supremacy can only be realized if the platform on which the laser weapon is deployed can support its power requirements. For many moving platforms, such as navy vessels and aircraft, power is a precious resource. At the same time, the size and weight of the laser weapon should be low enough that it can be inserted in the vehicle platform. For many navy vessels, aircraft and ground vehicles space is at a premium. Thus, the practical deployment of HEL weapons and the maximization of their lethal capability, strongly depend on increasing the laser system efficiency under operating conditions and reducing the size and weight from the current state-of-the-art. The efficiency, size and weight of the diode laser pump modules, the heart of the system, have a strong impact on the overall HEL size, weight and power consumption (SWaP). Thus, the goal of this program is to design, fabricate and test novel multi-kilowatt, high efficiency, low size and weight diode laser pump fiber coupled modules (FCMs).