Abstract

An electronically tunable laser diffracted by an efficient grating constitutes an attractive laser beam steering concept, which combines high speed with high angular resolution. Our detailed calculations have determined the characteristics of the proposed deflector including the number of resolvable spots N_R, the expected diffraction efficiency, and the angular speed. In the computation of N_R we take into account the angular broadening of the diffracted beam due to the finite linewidth of the laser. The analysis indicates that using a laser with a 35-nm tuning range, a linewidth of 1 pm, and a grating with a 306-nm spacing and a 30-mm aperture, N_R = 12,300 is realizable.

© 1988 Optical Society of America