Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) and other relatively small airborne platforms are being increasingly pressed into service to perform broadband Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions. Typically, these smaller platforms do not have enough space for a dish antenna and gimbal mechanism needed for a high-data-rate telemetry link. This paper presents a unique approach to steering a...

Cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) has attracted intensive attention due to its ability to form a periodic helical structure with broad tunability. CLC gratings in open systems are especially promising in sensing and micromanipulation. However, there is still much to learn about the inherent mechanism of such gratings. We investigate the light-driven rotation and pitch-tuning behaviors of CLC gra...

Electrically controlled micron-scale liquid lenses have been designed, fabricated and demonstrated, that provide both adjustable focusing and beam steering, with the goal of applying them to optogenetic in vivo mapping of brain activity with single cell resolution. The liquid lens is formed by the interface between two immiscible liquids which are contained in a conically tapered lens cavity et...

The APS storage ring is routinely operated with beam steering for the users. The resulting orbit distortions (local bumps at the source point locations might reach 1 to 2 mm) could have a detrimental impact on the lattice performance via the off-centered path of the beam in the sextupoles. Resulting effects could include the following: modulation of the lattice functions, emittance growth, dyna...

Future linear colliders will likely use sophisticated beambased alignment and/or steering algorithms to control the growth of the beam emittance in the linac. In this paper, a mathematical framework is presented which simplifies the evaluation of the effectiveness of these algorithms. As an application, a quad alignment algorithm that uses beam data taken with the nominal linac optics, and with...

The application of a commercially available spatial light modulator (SLM) to control the spatial intensity distribution of a nanosecond pulsed laser for micromachining is described for the first time. Heat sinking is introduced to increase the average power handling capabilities of the SLM beyond recommended limits by the manufacturer. Complex intensity patterns are generated, using the Inverse...

Laser Rayleigh imaging has been applied in a number of flow and flame studies to measure concentration or temperature distributions. Rayleigh cross sections are dependent on the index of refraction of the scattering medium. The same index of refraction changes that provide contrast in Rayleigh images can also deflect the illuminating laser sheet. By applying a ray-tracing algorithm to the detec...

Two spatial light modulators (SLMs) are utilized for beam splitting, steering and tracking. Both linear and holographic phase screens are used in a demonstration of technology to allow real time tracking to communicate in a one-to-several type scenario. One SLM is used to apply a linear phase modulation to steer multiple beams onto a detector. The spots that are produced represent the targets a...

The S-band Phased Array Radar (PAR) at the National Weather Radar Testbed (NWRT) in Norman, Oklahoma can adaptively scan multiple regions of interest and provide rapidly updated weather observations by electronically beam steering. This capability allows providing fast updates of weather information with high statistical accuracy with scanning strategy termed beam multiplexing ([Yu et al., 2007...

The transverse current profile in the Next Linear Collider Test Accelerator (NLCTA) electron beam can be monitored at several locations along the beam line by means of profile monitors. These consist of insertable phosphor screens, light collection and transport systems, CID cameras, a frame-grabber, and PC and VAX based image analysis software. In addition to their usefulness in tuning and ste...