Program Summary
Today’s laser systems are not scalable across the full national security mission space, especially amid proliferating small, low-cost unmanned aircraft systems on the battlefield. This shifting paradigm demands a layered defense that includes high-energy laser (HEL) capabilities – but fully realizing expanded laser-based defenses requires a high level of design and engineering.
Modern capabilities rely on multiple beam-combined high-power fiber amplifiers and large, complex optical subsystems to source, condition, and project HEL beams. However, leap-ahead advances in alternatives that offer improved size, weight, and power could provide a path to better HEL sources.
The Modular Efficient Laser Technology (MELT) program aims for revolutionary HEL sources that are scalable and can eliminate the need for large, complex subsystems. To achieve such advances, MELT seeks to exploit technologies such as novel semiconductor fabrication techniques, coherent beam combining, photonic integration, and 3D integration and packaging. Of particular interest is the development of compact, scalable, actively coherently beam combined source technology with excellent beam quality. To that end, MELT seeks to develop a laser tile as the building block for compact, scalable, panelized HEL sources. It is anticipated that such laser tiles will integrate into planar arrays for more powerful, smaller-footprint HEL sources that deliver excellent beam quality.