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US 12,117,607 B2Granted
Micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) micro-mirror array steered laser transmitter and situational awareness sensor with wavelength conversion
AssigneeRaytheon Company
InventorsBenn H. Gleason, Gerald P. Uyeno, Sean D. Keller
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A steerable laser transmitter and active situational awareness sensor that achieves SWaP-C, steering rate and spectral diversity improvements by scanning a beam with a Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) Micro-Minor Array (MMA). One or more sections of non-linear material (NLM) positioned in the optical path (e.g. as annular sections around a conic mirror or as reflective optical coatings on the MMA) are used to convert the wavelength of the beam to a different wavelength while preserving the steering of the beam. The MEMS MMA may include piston actuation of the mirrors to shape the spot-beam.
Claims20
A laser device, comprising:
- a laser configured to generate a beam of optical radiation at an input wavelength;
- a fixed mirror having a first conic section oriented along an optical axis;
- a Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) Micro-Mirror Array (MMA) positioned to receive the beam, said MEMS MMA comprising a plurality of mirrors that approximate an off-axis section of a parabolic surface to focus the optical radiation into a collimated spot-beam on the first conic section of the fixed mirror, said mirrors responsive to command signals to at least tip and tilt in two degrees-of-freedom (2 DOF) to re-direct and steer the collimated spot-beam in two-dimensions about the optical axis on the first conic section of the fixed mirror to scan a field-of-regard (FOR) around the optical axis;
- and
- a first optical non-linear material (NLM) in an optical path of the spot-beam to convert the input wavelength to a different first output wavelength while preserving the steering of the spot-beam over the FOR.
2 more elements
A laser device, comprising:
- a laser configured to generate a beam of optical radiation at a plurality of input wavelength;
- a fixed mirror having a first conic section oriented along an optical axis;
- a Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) Micro-Mirror Array (MMA) positioned to receive the beam, said MEMS MMA comprising a plurality of mirrors responsive to command signals to at least tip and tilt in two degrees-of-freedom (2 DOF) to cause the optical radiation to be focused into a spot-beam on the first conic section of the fixed mirror and to re-direct and steer the spot-beam in two-dimensions about the optical axis on the first conic section of the fixed mirror to scan a field-of-regard (FOR) around the optical axis;
- and
- a first annular cylindrical shaped optical element formed of a first optical non-linear material (NLM) oriented along an axis coincident with the optical axis of the first conic section, said steered spot-beam passing through the first annular cylindrical shaped optical element to convert the input wavelength to a different first output wavelength while preserving the steering of the spot-beam over the FOR;
- wherein said mirrors include reflective optical coatings configured to reflect at the different input wavelengths, said MEMS MMA responsive to command signals to select mirrors corresponding to a particular input wavelength to form the spot-beam whereby the optical NLM converts the particular input wavelength to a corresponding particular output wavelength.
3 more elements
A laser device, comprising:
- a laser configured to generate a beam of optical radiation at an input wavelength;
- a fixed mirror having a first conic section oriented along an optical axis;
- a Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) Micro-Mirror Array (MMA) positioned to receive the beam, said MEMS MMA comprising a plurality of mirrors responsive to command signals to at least tip and tilt in two degrees-of-freedom (2 DOF) to cause the optical radiation to be focused into a spot-beam on the first conic section of the fixed mirror and to re-direct and steer the spot-beam in two-dimensions about the optical axis on the first conic section of the fixed mirror to scan a field-of-regard (FOR) around the optical axis;
- and
- a first optical non-linear material (NLM) in an optical path of the spot-beam to convert the input wavelength to a different first output wavelength while preserving the steering of the spot-beam over the FOR,
- wherein at least a plurality of said mirrors include reflective optical coatings that include the first optical NLM such that the spot-beam is re-directed off of the mirrors at the first output wavelength.
3 more elements
A laser device, comprising:
- a laser configured to generate a beam of optical radiation at an input wavelength;
- a parabolic mirror having a central hole through which the beam of optical radiation passes from the laser,
- a fixed mirror having a first conic section oriented along an optical axis;
- a Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) Micro-Mirror Array (MMA) positioned to receive the beam, said MEMS MMA comprising a plurality of mirrors responsive to command signals to at least tip and tilt in two degrees-of-freedom (2 DOF) to steer the beam onto different off-axis sections of the parabolic mirror that re-directs and focuses the beam into a spot-beam at different locations on the first conic section of the fixed mirror and to re-direct and steer the spot-beam in two-dimensions about the optical axis on the first conic section of the fixed mirror to scan a field-of-regard (FOR) around the optical axis;
- and
- a first optical non-linear material (NLM) in an optical path of the spot-beam to convert the input wavelength to a different first output wavelength while preserving the steering of the spot-beam over the FOR.
3 more elements
A laser device, comprising:
- a laser configured to generate a beam of optical radiation at an input wavelength;
- and
- a Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) Micro-Mirror Array (MMA) positioned to receive the beam, said MEMS MMA comprising a plurality of mirrors which have reflective coatings formed of at least a first optical non-linear material (NLM) to convert the input wavelength to a different first output wavelength, said mirrors responsive to command signals to at least tip and tilt in two degrees-of-freedom (2 DOF) to steer the spot-beam in two-dimensions to scan a field-of-regard (FOR).
A laser device, comprising:
- a laser configured to generate a beam of optical radiation at an input wavelength;
- a Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) Micro-Mirror Array (MMA) positioned to receive the beam, said MEMS MMA comprising a plurality of mirrors responsive to command signals to at least tip, tilt and piston in three degrees-of-freedom (3 DOF) to shape the wavefront of the beam and steer the beam in two-dimensions to scan a field-of-regard (FOR);
- and
- a first optical non-linear material (NLM) in an optical path of the beam to convert the input wavelength to a different first output wavelength while preserving the steering of the beam over the FOR,
- wherein at least a plurality of said mirrors include reflective optical coatings that include the first optical NLM such that the beam is re-directed off of the mirrors at the first output wavelength.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.