Air Force Research Laboratory Aero-Effects Laboratory system status and capabilities

Abstract

Directed energy systems developed to reside on airborne platforms can experience a multitude of sources of degradation that reduces system performance. Three major sources of these degradations, or aberrations, can be attributed to aero-optics, atmospheric turbulence, and thermal blooming. Aero-optics is the term used to describe the aberrations induced from the aero-dynamical environment surrounding an aircraft as it travels through the air at high speeds. The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Laser Division has built and recently brought online the Aero-Effects Laboratory (AEL) capable of performing various aero-optical experiments and testing. The AFRL AEL currently has a supersonic wind tunnel with a test section that allows large optical access for various article testing and system simulations and verifications. Here we present the current status and capabilities of the AEL and some initial results from various experiments currently in development. Data acquisition systems include the use of pressure sensors, pitot probes, Schlieren imaging, and wavefront sensors. The Schlieren imagery is used to provide a qualitative measurement of the flow and shock waves present in the wind tunnel while wavefront sensors provide a more quantitative measurement of the phase disturbances induced from the aero-optical aberrations.