Degree Type: Professional Continuing Education

Course Description

A thorough presentation of High Energy Laser (HEL) weapon systems will be developed for students with undergraduate degrees in engineering or science who are interested in an overview of HEL systems at some technical depth. The 32 hour short course is intended to provide a complete overview of laser weapon systems, including laser devices (chemical, solid-state, and free electron), laser subsystems (power, thermal management, fluid supply), beam control (beam directors, tracking and control, and adaptive optics), atmospheric propagation, targets and lethality, engagement scenarios, and weapon system performance. The course emphasizes concepts, terminology, current technology capabilities, and system concepts. The course does not develop key relationships from first principles. Limitations on the effectiveness of HEL weapons will be addressed. Application of these concepts to current systems will include the historical Airborne Laser Laboratory, Airborne Laser, Tactical High Energy Laser, Advanced Tactical Laser, and Space Based Laser Programs. The effectiveness of high energy laser weapons on the battlefield will be simulated using engagement and mission level models. The course includes a number of extended worked problems, including a simplified calculation of weapon effectiveness for a high altitude, long-range, air-to-air engagement.

The course outline is as follows:

•The promise of HEL weapons
•Concepts of systems engineering
•Overview of HEL weapon systems
•Fundamentals of laser devices
•The atmosphere
•Beam control systems
•Lethality
•HEL weapon systems
•Laser weapon system effectiveness

Intended Audience

US Government personnel and their direct contractors who have program requirements for or are interested in high energy laser weapon systems and their applications. The course assumes the students have some technical background in applied physics, optical sciences, and laser systems--either via an undergraduate degree or career experience.

Instructor Biography

Michael A. Marciniak, Assistant Professor of Physics, B.S. St Joseph College, 1981 B.S.E.E. University of Missouri, 1983, M.S.E.E. Air Force Institute of Technology, 1987 Ph.D., Air Force Institute of Technology, 1995. Professor Marciniak&rsquo s previous experience includes the Air Force high power semiconductor laser program and Program Manager for aerospace power technologies. His research interests include narrow band-gap semiconductors for mid-infrared lasers, coherent phasing of semiconductor lasers, and wide-bandgap semiconductor materials and devices for high-power, high-temperature aerospace applications.

 
Jack McCrae, Research Assistant Professor, B.S. in Physics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1984 M.S. in Physics (Optics) from AFIT 1993 Ph.D. in Physics from AFIT 1997. Dr. McCrae is a retired Air Force Colonel with 27 years of service and currently a Senior Research Associate with the Center for Directed Energy at AFIT. His research interests include optics, lasers, quantum and non-linear optics, laser radar, atmospheric propagation and imaging.