How Can An AWGN Generator Packed With Versatility Enhance Laser Weapon Design?

Inside a laser system’s fiber-optic cabling is a power-limiting challenge known as Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS). Driven by high-power environments, SBS triggers a reflected light beam (Stokes wave) that threatens the integrity of system components.

Directed energy weapons (DEW) must operate at high power, but this requirement is the catalyst behind SBS. To find a solution, engineers need to look no further than additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) generation.

Referred to as coherence spreading, a random AWGN signal can modify the phase of the optical wave, leaving the peak amplitude and frequency unaltered. Dispersing peak power reduces SBS and maintaining average power enables an extreme power output.

This post explores how engineers can tackle SBS challenges with AWGN during laser weapon design.