US 11,835,705 B2
Optical sensor with Tx/Rx aperture sharing element (ASE) to block detection of the received active signal
Gerald P. Uyeno, Tucson, AZ (US); Eric Rogala, Tucson, AZ (US); Mark K. Lange, Tucson, AZ (US); Sean D. Keller, Tucson, AZ (US); Vanessa Reyna, Tucson, AZ (US); Benn H. Gleason, Tucson, AZ (US); Craig O. Shott, Benson, AZ (US); Garret A. Odom, Tucson, AZ (US); and Jon E. Leigh, Tucson, AZ (US)
Assigned to Raytheon Company, Waltham, MA (US)
Filed by Raytheon Company, Waltham, MA (US)
Filed on Oct. 7, 2020, as Appl. No. 17/065,177.
Prior Publication US 2022/0107490 A1, Apr. 7, 2022
Int. Cl. F16M 11/12 (2006.01); G02B 23/16 (2006.01)
CPC G02B 23/16 (2013.01) [F16M 11/123 (2013.01)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An optical sensor, comprising:
an outer gimbal that rotates around a first gimbal axis;
an inner gimbal that rotates around a second gimbal axis orthogonal to the first gimbal axis to point an optical axis in a multi-dimensional space defined by said first and second gimbal axes;
a common Tx/Rx telescope mounted on the inner gimbal along the optical axis;
an off-gimbal detector responsive to light at a plurality of wavelengths in a detection band;
an off-gimbal optical source that emits an optical transmit signal in a transmit band within the detection band at a fixed off-gimbal access point;
a free-space optical path along the first and second gimbal axes to couple light from the common Tx/Rx telescope to the off-gimbal detector;
an off-gimbal aperture sharing element (ASE) positioned in a common Tx/Rx aperture in the free-space optical path at a fixed angle to the free-space optical path, said ASE free-space coupling the optical transmit signal from the off-gimbal access point into the free-space optical path and to the common Tx/Rx telescope for transmission along the optical axis towards a scene, said common Tx/Rx telescope collecting both passive emissions within the detection band and a returned transmit signal in the transmit band from the scene along the optical axis, said ASE configured at the fixed angle to block the returned transmit signal and to direct the passive emissions to said off-gimbal detector to passively image the scene at a plurality of wavelengths in the detection band not including the returned transmit signal; and
an absorber configured to absorb the returned transmit signal;
wherein the transmitted optical transmit signal and the collected returned transmit signal and passive emissions are co-boresighted along the optical axis.