Compact, eye-safe rangefinder weighs only 1.5 pounds

Oct. 1, 1995
A hand-held eye-safe laser rangefinder has been developed by Sanders (Nashua, NH) for the US Army Night Vision and Electronic System Directorate (Ft. Belvoir, VA). The device uses a Nd:YAG rod side-pumped by two 100-W diode-laser bars. A barium sulfate coating on the rod provides a diffuse reflector for uniform energy deposition within the rod. The passive Q-switched rod output drives an intracavity KTP OPO, producing a 1.57-µm output beam with energies of 1 mJ. The cone-shaped coaxial outp

Compact, eye-safe rangefinder weighs only 1.5 pounds

Rick DeMeis

A hand-held eye-safe laser rangefinder has been developed by Sanders (Nashua, NH) for the US Army Night Vision and Electronic System Directorate (Ft. Belvoir, VA). The device uses a Nd:YAG rod side-pumped by two 100-W diode-laser bars. A barium sulfate coating on the rod provides a diffuse reflector for uniform energy deposition within the rod. The passive Q-switched rod output drives an intracavity KTP OPO, producing a 1.57-µm output beam with energies of 1 mJ. The cone-shaped coaxial output/receiver optics of the rangefinder put the InGaAsP photodiode detector at right angles to the beam axis (see photo). The laser output beam is expanded through the 6X telescope producing a 1-mrad full-angle-divergence output beam, matching the field of view of the coaxial receiving optics.

The rangefinder weighs less than 1.5 lb, fits in a 3.75 ¥ 2 ¥ 6-in. carbon-fiber package, and is designed for use with night-vision goggles. The operator projects a spot from an infrared diode laser, which is hard-mounted to and aligned with the rangefinding laser optics, on a target that can be up to 2.5 km away under 7-km visibility conditions. A push of a button produces a range reading within one second to accu racies of ۫ m.

Sponsored Recommendations

Digitizer system available in seven different models

Nov. 26, 2023
The Star-Hub digitizer system can be used with any cards from the M5i.33xx PCIe digitizer family.

High-speed cameras offer UV-extended capability

Nov. 25, 2023
The Phantom T3610, T2410, and TMX high-speed cameras (TMX 7510/6410/5010) are available in a UV variant.

Linear voice coil motors offer peak force of 2.20 N

Nov. 24, 2023
The LVCM-013-032-02M and LVCM-013-032-02 are 12.7 mm diameter linear voice coil motors.

Image sensor has use in home and professional security

Nov. 23, 2023
The OS08C10 image sensor features both staggered high dynamic range (HDR) and single exposure dual analog gain (DAG).

Voice your opinion!

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of Laser Focus World, create an account today!