Apparatus for detecting the existance of a source of coherent radiation in the presence of incoherent radiation. A beam splitter splits the radiation into two paths. Means are included in one path for transmitting the incoherent radiation and modulated coherent radiation. The other path effectively transmits only the incoherent radiation. Balancing means are used to balance out the incoherent radiation transmitting only the modulated coherent radiation which is then detected.
An imaging coherent radiometer incorporating a Fabry-Perot interferometer which is scanned or nutated, for detecting and determining location and wavelength of coherent radiation or the coherent absence of radiation in the presence of non-coherent ambient radiation.
A laser discrimination filter based on temporal coherence is presented. This filter comprises a multilayer device with "thick" layers such that the optical thickness of each layer is greater than the coherence length of the ambient light, but still much smaller than the coherence length of the laser light of interest. Thus, the spectral response of the device of this invention becomes dependent on the degree of temporal coherence of the incident light. If white light strikes the filter, multi-beam interference will not occur because of its short coherence length. The device acts like a stack of partially reflecting mirrors. If the laser light strikes the filter, multi-beam interference will still take place because of the long coherence length of the laser light. This causes the device to have different transmitting characteristics for laser light and white light. Therefore, this device functions as a laser discrimination device.
A compact interferometer includes a substrate having opposing faces and a suppression feature on one of the faces of the substrate. The suppression feature suppresses higher order reflections inside the substrate. The suppression feature may be an absorptive coating. The interferometer produces high throughput, high contrast signals when receiving light at normal or near normal incidence.
An optical element (10) is provided with a coating so as to selectively pass spectral lines of interest. The element includes a substrate (14) having a first major surface and a second, opposite major surface. The element further includes a coating, preferably a rugate coating (12), formed upon at least one of the major surfaces. The rugate coating has a spatially varying index of refraction profile through a depth thereof. The profile is selected so as to provide the element with a prescribed dispersion characteristic that matches a dispersion characteristic of a source of the radiation signal.
An etalon (10) is provided with a coating (12) so as to selectively pass spectral lines of interest. The etalon includes a substrate (14) having a first major surface and a second, opposite major surface. The etalon further includes a coating, preferably a rugate coating (12), formed upon at least one of the major surfaces. The rugate coating has a spatially varying index of refraction profile through a depth thereof. The profile is selected so as to provide the element with a prescribed dispersion characteristic that matches a dispersion characteristic of a source of the radiation signal.
