Aug 5, 2025

US12379187 - Laser irradiation apparatus and laser irradiation method

A laser irradiation apparatus includes a controller configured to calculate a predicted movement position into which a target is predicted to move at a future specific time, a transmission laser source configured to generate a transmission laser, irradiation optics configured to emit the transmission laser to the target and emit a search laser to the predicted movement position and wavefront correction optics. The wavefront correction optics are configured to correct a wavefront of the transmission laser at the future specific time based on observation light that returns when the search laser is emitted to the predicted movement position.

Assignee: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD. RIKEN INSTITUTE FOR LASER TECHNOLOGY
Inventors: Masashi Iwashimizu, Hiroyuki Daigo, Shingo Nishikata, Kazunori Masukawa, Atsushi Ochiai, Toshikazu Ebisuzaki, Satoshi Wada, Yoshiyuki Takizawa, Masayuki Maruyama, Shinji Motokoshi
Filing date: 2019-07-03

The patent describes a laser irradiation apparatus that predicts a target’s future movement and adjusts the transmission laser’s wavefront accordingly using backscattered light from a search laser. This system includes components for observing the target, calculating movement positions, and correcting the laser’s wavefront to enhance targeting accuracy.

Claim 1

A laser irradiation apparatus comprising: a target observer configured to observe a target and acquire observation information; a controller configured to calculate predicted movement positions into which the target is predicted to move at respective future specific times; a search laser source configured to generate a search laser; a transmission laser source configured to generate a transmission laser, the transmission laser source being separate from the search laser source; irradiation optics configured to emit the transmission laser to the target and emit the search laser to one of the predicted movement positions; and wavefront correction optics configured to correct a wavefront of the transmission laser at one of the specific times based on observation light that is backscattered light generated by light scattering in an atmosphere and acquired from the atmosphere when the search laser is emitted to the one of the predicted movement positions, wherein the controller is configured to: calculate wavefront correction data for each of the predicted movement positions based on observation light that returns when the search laser is emitted to each of the predicted movement positions; specify a position of the target at the one of the specific times based on the observation information; and determine wavefront correction data to actually be used to correct the wavefront of the transmission laser at the one of the specific times based on the specified position of the target and the wavefront correction data calculated for each of the predicted movement positions, and wherein: the wavefront correction optics are configured to correct the wavefront of the transmission laser based on the determined wavefront correction data at the one of the specific times; and the search laser source is configured to, simultaneously with emission of the transmission laser to the target, emit the search laser to the one of the predicted movement positions at respective future specific times. a target observer configured to observe a target and acquire observation information; a controller configured to calculate predicted movement positions into which the target is predicted to move at respective future specific times; a search laser source configured to generate a search laser; a transmission laser source configured to generate a transmission laser, the transmission laser source being separate from the search laser source; irradiation optics configured to emit the transmission laser to the target and emit the search laser to one of the predicted movement positions; and wavefront correction optics configured to correct a wavefront of the transmission laser at one of the specific times based on observation light that is backscattered light generated by light scattering in an atmosphere and acquired from the atmosphere when the search laser is emitted to the one of the predicted movement positions, wherein the controller is configured to: calculate wavefront correction data for each of the predicted movement positions based on observation light that returns when the search laser is emitted to each of the predicted movement positions; specify a position of the target at the one of the specific times based on the observation information; and determine wavefront correction data to actually be used to correct the wavefront of the transmission laser at the one of the specific times based on the specified position of the target and the wavefront correction data calculated for each of the predicted movement positions, and wherein: the wavefront correction optics are configured to correct the wavefront of the transmission laser based on the determined wavefront correction data at the one of the specific times; and the search laser source is configured to, simultaneously with emission of the transmission laser to the target, emit the search laser to the one of the predicted movement positions at respective future specific times.

Google Patents

https://patents.google.com/patent/US12379187

USPTO PDF

https://image-ppubs.uspto.gov/dirsearch-public/print/downloadPdf/12379187