Coherent radiation detector
First Claim
1. Apparatus for detecting a presence of continuous wave and/or pulse coherent radiation, comprising:
- radiation detector means having a plurality of discrete radiation detector elements disposed upon a surface thereof;
coherence length discriminator (CLD) means having a coherence length longer than a background radiation wavelength and shorter than a wavelength of coherent signals to be detected, said CLD means including means for varying an optical path length therethrough at a plurality of locations, said CLD means being disposed relative to said radiation detector means such that radiation passing through said CLD means is received by said discrete radiation detector elements; and
means, coupled to said CLD means, for moving said CLD means relative to said radiation detector means so as to modulate only coherent radiation passing through said CLD means.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A CW and/or pulse coherent radiation detection system (10) includes at least one radiation detector (14) having a plurality of discrete radiation detector elements (A-D) disposed upon a surface thereof. A coherence length discriminator (CLD), for example an etalon (12), is constructed so as to vary an optical path length therethrough at a plurality of locations. The CLD is disposed relative to the radiation detector such that radiation passing through the CLD is received by the discrete radiation detector elements. The apparatus further includes a drive (16) for translating the CLD relative to the radiation detector so as to modulate only coherent radiation passing through the CLD. The drive is preferably a reactionless drive having an energy consumption made small by the use of small CLD motions that correspond to the dimensions of individual detector elements. The coherent radiation detector is also shown to be usable for detecting an angle of arrival of coherent radiation.
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Citations
32 Claims
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1. Apparatus for detecting a presence of continuous wave and/or pulse coherent radiation, comprising:
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radiation detector means having a plurality of discrete radiation detector elements disposed upon a surface thereof; coherence length discriminator (CLD) means having a coherence length longer than a background radiation wavelength and shorter than a wavelength of coherent signals to be detected, said CLD means including means for varying an optical path length therethrough at a plurality of locations, said CLD means being disposed relative to said radiation detector means such that radiation passing through said CLD means is received by said discrete radiation detector elements; and means, coupled to said CLD means, for moving said CLD means relative to said radiation detector means so as to modulate only coherent radiation passing through said CLD means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A method of detecting a presence of a coherent radiation signal within an incoherent background signal, comprising the steps of:
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providing a radiation detection means having a plurality of discrete radiation detector elements disposed upon a substantially planar surface of the radiation detector means; translating a substantially planar etalon means so as to modulate only coherent radiation passing through said etalon means, the step of translating including a step of moving the etalon means by a distance at least equal to a dimension of one of the discrete radiation detector elements and occurring within a translation plane that is coplanarly disposed with respect to the etalon means and the planar surface of the radiation detector means; and detecting the modulated coherent radiation with the radiation detection means. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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Specification