Continued Optical Sensor Operations in a Laser Environment

<p>The U.S. and other industrialized nations are conducting research and development of directed energy applications including High-energy Lasers (HEL) and Low-energy Lasers (LEL). While HEL will likely have military applications in Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) Counter-Air Counter-Space and Counter-Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) HEL applications will be slow to proliferate to potential adversaries due to high cost and technical complexity. However LEL (i.e. d10kW average power) will be developed as technological byproducts of HEL and commercial applications and will rapidly proliferate due to lost cost and reduced technical complexity. The U.S. Air Force other military services and other government agencies will field a wide variety of unmanned aerial vehicles by 2030. Most will be equipped with focal plane array (FPA)-based optical sensors in the ultra-violet visible and infra-red spectrum. FPAs are sensitive detectors constructed from dense arrays of very-large scale integrated circuit (VLSI) gates. As such LELs pose a denial and degradation threat to these sensors.</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p><br>