Abstract

Silicon Spatial Light Modulators can be used with great effect to compensate for atmospheric induced aberrations that severely limit laser performance. In a program to improve both the beam quality and laser energy delivered to the target, Northrop Grumman has developed a novel linear phase conjugation aberration compensation technique. This technique utilizes a silicon Spatial Light Modulator (SLM) as a dynamic wavefront reversing element to undo aberrations induced by the atmosphere, platform motion, or both. A hologram written to a focal plane array camera (FPA) is transferred, pixel-by-pixel, to the SLM. This hologram, the conjugate of that formed on the FPA contains both intensity and phase information about the intervening atmosphere between the SLM and the target.

© 1997 Optical Society of America