Infrared and Laser Engineering, Volume. 45, Issue 3, 306005(2016)
Polarization effects of laser beam brightness and its application in Satellite Laser Ranging
Laser beam image generated by atmosphere backscattering has been widely used to monitor the laser pointing in Satellite Laser Ranging(SLR). The phenomenon that the brightness of beam image differs from sky sections influences the satellite aiming. Based on the SLR system of Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the mechanism of this phenomenon was figured out that the efficiency of splitter mirror was generally related to the polarization state of incident light. Accordingly, a new method was proposed that a half-wave plate was deployed in transmitting path, and rotating it realized the real-time control of different brightness for beam imaging. The model of outgoing laser polarization direction with the pointing of telescope was established. Compared with the use of splitter mirror whose efficiency is independent of polarization direction, the method is more flexible, simpler and less cost. The method can be applied in improving laser beam pointing accuracy in SLR and Signal-to-Noise Ratio(SNR) of star image etc.
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Wu Zhibo, Deng Huarong, Zhang Haifeng, Tang Kai, Zhang Zhongping. Polarization effects of laser beam brightness and its application in Satellite Laser Ranging[J]. Infrared and Laser Engineering, 2016, 45(3): 306005
Category: 激光技术及应用
Received: Jul. 14, 2015
Accepted: Aug. 19, 2015
Published Online: Apr. 5, 2016
The Author Email: Zhibo Wu (wzb@shao.ac.cn)