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U.S. Department of Energy
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Antares beam-alignment-system performance

Conference ·
OSTI ID:5904116
The beam alignment system for the 24-beam-sector Antares CO/sub 2/ fusion laser automatically aligns more than 200 optical elements. A visible-wavelength alignment technique is employed which uses a telescope/TV system to view point-light sources appropriately located down the beamline. The centroids of the light spots are determined by a video tracker, which generates error signals used by the computer control system to move appropriate mirrors in a closed-loop system. Final touch-up alignment is accomplished by projecting a CO/sub 2/ alignment laser beam through the system and sensing its position at the target location. The techniques and control algorithms employed have resulted in alignment accuracies exceeding design requirements. By employing video processing to determine the centroids of diffraction images and by averaging over multiple TV frames, we achieve alignment accuracies better than 0.1 times system diffraction limits in the presence of air turbulence.
Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Lab., NM (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-36
OSTI ID:
5904116
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-83-1668; CONF-830425-25; ON: DE83014180
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English