Risley Prism Beam Pointer

Free-Space Laser Communications VI Proc. of SPIE Vol. 6304, 10 p. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. (Ball Aerospace) has developed a Risley Beam Pointer (RBP) mechanism capable of high pointing accuracy and operational bandwidth. The prisms offer a wide field of regard (FOR) and can be manufactured and operated with diffraction-limited optical quality. The unit is capable of steering a 4-in. diameter beam over a 72° half angle cone with better than 100 μrad precision. Absolute accuracy of the beamsteering is in the range of 100 μrad to 1 mrad, depending on the thermal environment of the system. The system has demonstrated a control bandwidth of 23 Hz and better than 10 deg/sec of smooth target tracking anywhere within the FOR.