Evaluation of materials for on-board laser diagnostics

The AEgis Technologies Group and RTI International are developing microsensors for High Energy Laser (HEL) diagnostic applications. The conformal sensor array will measure the irradiance profile of an incident laser beam, and concomitant rise in surface temperature of the target. The open mesh architecture allows 90% of the beam to impact the surface. A critical part of this program is developing a protective coating that ensures sensor survivability at high irradiance levels for operational lifetimes on the order of 10 seconds. The protective coating must transmit a measurable amount of light to the irradiance sensor. We have conducted experiments to evaluate candidate heat shield materials. In the first round of experiments, a 10kW CO2 laser was used to irradiate pure materials, including metals and carbon foils. Although many of the metal foils were perforated by the laser, no significant amount of material was ablated away. In fact, most of the test samples gained mass, presumably due to oxidation. Analysis of high speed video shows that once the metal melted, surface tension caused the molten metal to coalesce into droplets around the rim of the hole. The second and third rounds of testing, conducted with a 3kW, 1.07μm fiber laser, included samples of highly reflective metals and ceramics, standard plasma-sprayed coatings, and multilayer stacks. We have also measured the performance of temperature sensors and irradiance sensors fabricated from nanoparticle solutions deposited by advanced printing technology and have completed a preliminary investigation of high temperature adhesives.