Abstract

A single-photon laser and mid-wave infrared (MWIR) common aperture optical system was designed and developed to detect and range a long-distance civil aviation aircraft. The secondary mirror of the Ritchey-Chretien (R-C) optical system was chosen as a dichroic lens to realize the design of a common aperture system for the laser and MWIR. Point spread function (PSF) ellipticity was introduced to evaluate the coupling efficiency of the laser receiving system. A small aperture stop and narrow filter were set in the secondary image plane and an afocal light path of the laser system, respectively, and the stray light suppression ability of the small aperture stop was verified by modeling and simulation. With high-precision manufacturing technology by single point diamond turning (SPDT) and a high-efficiency dichroic coating, the laser/MWIR common aperture optical system with a φ300 mm aluminum alloy mirror obtained images of buildings at a distance of 5 km with great quality. A civil aviation aircraft detection experiment was conducted. The results show that the common aperture system could detect and track long-distance civil aviation aircraft effectively, and the coverage was more than 450 km (signal-to-noise ratio = 6.3). It satisfied the application requirements for earlier warning and ranging of long-range targets in the area of aviation, aerospace and ground detection systems.

© 2022 Optical Society of Korea

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