DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Telecom Tech Could Protect Aircraft....NSI News Source Info # 1465
** Researchers are developing mid-IR supercontinuum laser technology to protect military helicopters from heat-seeking missiles. Courtesy of Omni Sciences Inc.
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Photonics
Optical parametric oscillators have been used on aircraft to confuse shoulder-launched heat-seeking missiles, but this technology is expensive and fragile, not suitable for the rigors of helicopter flight. Current laser-based IR countermeasures, consisting of 84 pieces of moving optics, are not considered a practical option for helicopter flight.
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Photonics(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - January 20, 2011: Infrared supercontinuum laser technology could soon help protect military helicopters from heat-seeking missiles designed to home in on IR radiation emitted by a helicopter’s engine. Built with off-the-shelf telecom fiber optics, the laser technology operates in the mid- and longer IR wavelengths. Because it emits such a broad spectrum of light, it can jam missile sensors from a distance of 1.8 miles.
Optical parametric oscillators have been used on aircraft to confuse shoulder-launched heat-seeking missiles, but this technology is expensive and fragile, not suitable for the rigors of helicopter flight. Current laser-based IR countermeasures, consisting of 84 pieces of moving optics, are not considered a practical option for helicopter flight.
“We moved from complexity to simplicity,” said Mohammed N. Islam, a professor in the department of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Michigan. “The compact system can go anywhere there is space on the helicopter. We eliminated the need for mode-locked lasers, which are expensive, and we extended the wavelength to cover the entire spectrum. We used a standard distributed feedback pump laser, and light can be piped easily through 10- to 15-m fiber. Optical amplifier technology is used to boost the signal.”
Islam and his team created an all-fiber integrated supercontinuum laser that provides up to 10.5-W time-averaged power with a continuous spectrum from approximately 0.8 to 4 µm, according to their report in the IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, March/ April 2009. They stated that the laser is generated by a combination of standard single-mode fibers and fluoride fibers pumped by a laser diode-based cladding-pumped fiber amplifier system. They also demonstrated that the output of the supercontinuum laser pulse pattern can be adjusted by directly modulating the seed laser diode and controlling the amplifier gain with a signal feedback technique.
Islam and his team created an all-fiber integrated supercontinuum laser that provides up to 10.5-W time-averaged power with a continuous spectrum from approximately 0.8 to 4 µm, according to their report in the IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, March/ April 2009. They stated that the laser is generated by a combination of standard single-mode fibers and fluoride fibers pumped by a laser diode-based cladding-pumped fiber amplifier system. They also demonstrated that the output of the supercontinuum laser pulse pattern can be adjusted by directly modulating the seed laser diode and controlling the amplifier gain with a signal feedback technique.
