Optical distortions and birefringence in high power laser windows: model and computer code.
A general optical model is given which predicts optical wave front distortions and birefringence due to stress and temperature variations in laser heated and pressure loaded windows for cubic lattice window materials. A computer code is described that integrates stress and thermal computations with an optical model to predict the wave front distortions. Restrictive approximations, which have been used previously to predict window temperature and stress distributions, are avoided by using stress and thermal codes to predict these distributions within the windows. Comparisons between code predictions and experimental results are given.
Greninger
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CE
Rockwell International, Rocketdyne Division, Canoga Park, California 91304, USA.
Needham
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GA
Rebar
J
J