The Effects of Deep Turbulence

Thursday, August 25, 2016
2:00 a.m.
LTS Auditorium, 8080 Greenmead Drive, College Park, MD, 20740
Sandra Nicholes
301 405 3114
snichol@umd.edu

Abstract 

When laser beams propagate on relatively long paths (1-5 km) in the low atmosphere they experience what is called “deep” turbulence. The laser beam becomes severely distorted, and breaks into multiple patches. The characterization and correction of these effects is very important for free space optical communication systems and for laser weapons systems. This talk will describe the use of plenoptic sensors and the phenomenon of enhanced backscatter for characterizing the beam distortions and providing information to an adaptive optics system to correct these distortions. The plenoptic sensor also allows improved imagery to be obtained through a distorting atmosphere. The challenges of using coherent combining of high power lasers as a means for correcting overall beam distortion on a distant target will also be discussed. 

About the Speaker:

Christopher C. Davis is Minta Martin Professor of Engineering and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park. He received the B.A. degree (with Honors) in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge in 1965, the M.A. degree from the University of Cambridge in 1970, and the Ph.D. degree in Physics from the University of Manchester in 1970. From 1973-1975 he was an Instructor/Research Associate at Cornell University, and from 1982-83 was a Senior Visiting Fellow at the University of Cambridge. He is a Fellow of both the Institute of Physics and the IEEE. Professor Davis is the author of the widely used text “Lasers and Electro-Optics,” published by Cambridge University Press, and co-author with Jack Moore and Mike Coplan of the best-selling text “Building Scientific Apparatus,” now in its 4th edition published by Cambridge University Press.  He is author or co-author of 14 chapters in books, over 245 refereed journal articles and over 300 conference papers, and is editor of 10 volumes of SPIE Proceedings. He holds sixteen awarded and several pending patents. His currently active research is in optical and directional RF wireless, directed energy, optical sensors, hybrid networks, laser interferometry, dielectrometry, atmospheric turbulence, optical communication systems and devices, and biophysics.

 

Audience: Public 

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