Short-range verification experiment of a trial one-dimensional synthetic aperture infrared laser radar operated in the 10-microm band.

A trial one-dimensional (1-D) synthetic aperture infrared laser radar (SAILR) system for imaging static objects, with two CO(2) lasers as a transmitter and a local oscillator for heterodyne detection, was constructed. It has a single receiving aperture mounted on a linearly movable stage with a length of 1 m and a position accuracy of 1 microm. In an indoor short-range experiment to confirm the fundamental functions of the system and demonstrate its unique imaging process we succeeded in obtaining 1-D synthetic aperture images of close specular point targets with theoretically expected resolution.

High-resolution incoherent-to-coherent conversion by use of the photorefractive fanning effect.

We demonstrate that high-resolution incoherent-to-coherent conversion can be carried out in an incoherent-to-coherent converter based on the photorefractive fanning effect. The output coherent image has the same direction as the incident coherent beam, and thus the resolution is not limited by the grating diffraction. We obtained a resolution as high as 90.5 line pairs/mm in this experiment. The transmittance of the coherent beam relative to the intensity of the incoherent beam was measured. We also theoretically estimated the resolving power with respect to the interaction length. The numerical results agree well with the experiments.

Nondiffracting narrow light beam with small atmospheric turbulence-influenced propagation.

A narrow light beam that propagates in the atmosphere with less disturbance than conventional light beams is introduced. The operating method and features of the newly proposed long-range nondiffracting beam (LRNB) are briefly demonstrated. Some experimental results of the atmospheric propagation of this beam at a distance of 500 m are shown in comparison with a conventional collimated beam and a focused beam. The results and related analyses show that the LRNB is much less influenced by atmospheric turbulence than other beams and suggest that the LRNB can apply to many fields.

Image transmission through a thick dynamic distorter by the photorefractive fanning effect.

A new method of one-way image transmission through a thick dynamic distorter without the need for a reference beam or four-wave mixing is demonstrated. In this method there are only one object beam and one sampling beam. The response time of the photorefractive crystal must be much longer than the fluctuation period of the dynamic distorter. Thus the crystal responds only to the time-averaged intensity pattern of a rapidly varying object beam. The images, reconstructed with high fidelity, are picked up through the photorefractive fanning effect.

Feasibility study of synthetic aperture infrared laser radar techniques for imaging of static and moving objects.

Techniques for two types of 10-mum band synthetic aperture infrared laser radar using a hypothetical reference point target (RPT) are presented. One is for imaging static objects with a single two-dimensional scanning aperture. Through the simple manipulation of a reference wave phase, a desired image can be obtained merely by the two-dimensional Fourier transformation of the correlator output between the intermediate frequency signals of the reference and object waves. The other, with a one-dimensional aperture array, is for moving objects that pass across the array direction without attitude change. We performed imaging by using a two-dimensional RPT correlation method. We demonstrate the capability of these methods for imaging and evaluate the necessary conditions for signal-to-noise ratio and random phase errors in signal reception through numerical simulations in terms of feasibility.

Incoherent-to-coherent conversion by use of the photorefractive fanning effect.

A dynamic incoherent-to-coherent converter using the photorefractive fanning effect is demonstrated in a BaTiO(3):Ce crystal, and high-quality positive replicas of the incoherent image are obtained with a resolution of 32line pairs/mm. In this method the incoherent image-bearing beam modulates the transmission intensity of the coherent beam directly, and no readout beam is required. When the intensity ratio of the incoherent beam to the coherent beam is smaller than 5, the transmission intensity of the coherent beam increases almost linearly with increased intensity of the incoherent beam.

Mutually pumped phase conjugator with a rainbow configuration in BaTiO(3):Ce crystal using nanosecond pulses.

A new type of mutually pumped phase conjugator with a rainbow configuration has been demonstrated experimentally in cerium-doped barium titanate crystal that uses pulsed beams with a pulse width of 3.0 ns and a repetition rate of 40 Hz at a wavelength of 532 nm. The highest phase-conjugate reflectivity was ~24%. The dependence of the phase-conjugate reflectivity on the incident angle and distance, as well as the grating formation time for achieving 1 - e(-1) of equilibrium reflectivity, has been measured.