Improving the self-defocusing optical limiter

Grover A. Swartzlander Jr.; Chiu-Tai Law; Anthony J. Campillo

doi:10.1117/12.138060

18 August 1992 Improving the self-defocusing optical limiter

Grover A. Swartzlander Jr., Chiu-Tai Law, Anthony J. Campillo

Proceedings Volume 1692, Nonlinear and Electro-Optic Materials for Optical Switching; (1992) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.138060
Event: Aerospace Sensing, 1992, Orlando, FL, United States

Abstract

The so-called "defocusing limiter" is one of the best configurations for achieving laser radiation protection over a broadband spectrum in a low fnumber system. Available nonlinear materials, however, can not provide maximum permissible exposure levels over a large dynamic range. On the other hand, we believe that novel nonlinear optical engineering techniques can be used to overcome these difficulties. We have recently discovered a rich class of nonlinear optical phenomena in defocusing media, which opens new opportunities to enhance the performance of defocusing limiters and to explore completely new limiting schemes. Here we show that a nonlinear mask can be used to improve the device performance by reducing the throughput power by 90% in an ff5 optical system. We have numerically modeled a generic nonlinear optical limiter to account for these effects. The code allows us to vary the parameters of the optical system and the nonlinçar medium. In addition to obtaining the transmission data, we also determine the intensity distribution in the final focal plane.

Citation Download Citation

Grover A. Swartzlander Jr., Chiu-Tai Law, and Anthony J. Campillo "Improving the self-defocusing optical limiter", Proc. SPIE 1692, Nonlinear and Electro-Optic Materials for Optical Switching, (18 August 1992); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.138060

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