Product Details

INTRODUCTION TO LASER WEAPON SYSTEMS is the result of an almost 40-year history of graduate studies in high energy lasers and optics at the Air Force Institute of Technology. Book contents are based on a series of short courses for scientists and engineers new to the field of directed energy and, most recently, a 32- hour course entitled Laser Weapons Systems sponsored by the Directed Energy Professional Society, with funding from the High Energy Laser Joint Technology Office. This text covers a broad range of technical disciplines pertinent to high energy laser systems and draws on supplementary material from spectroscopy, chemical kinetics, and optics and laser physics, rendering the material suitable for graduate students as well as working professionals.

About the Authors
Robert L. Hengehold has served on the Air Force Institute of Technology faculty since 1961, teaching in the areas of solid-state physics, laser physics, optical diagnostics, and quantum physics. He has carried out research in experimental solid-state physics, semiconductor physics, optical diagnostics, and laser spectroscopy, authoring over 115 archival publications and 225 conference presentations. Dr. Hengehold served as head of the AFIT Department of Engineering Physics for over 25 years (1983 to 2009) and is a fellow of the American Physical Society.

Glen P. Perram is professor of physics at the Air Force Institute of Technology, having served on the faculty since 1989. As an experimentalist in the area of applied physics, his research interests include high power gas and chemical lasers, and the remote sensing of battlespace combustion events. He teaches graduate courses in quantum mechanics, spectroscopy, lasers, chemical kinetics, space surveillance, and optics. Dr. Perram is a registered professional engineer in the State of Ohio, and retired from active duty in the U.S. Air Force in 2001. He is a fellow of the Directed Energy Professional Society.

Steven T. Fiorino is a research assistant professor of atmospheric physics at the Air Force Institute of Technology, where he has served on the faculty since 2003. As a retired 21-year Air Force meteorologist/ weather officer, his research, teaching, and advising have focused on atmospheric effects on military systems such as high energy lasers and weapons of mass destruction, and the impacts of those effects on remote sensing instruments and algorithms. Dr. Fiorino is the scientific developer of the Laser Environmental Effects Definition and Reference (LEEDR) software package and the atmospheric data used in the High Energy Laser End-to-End Operational Simulation (HELEEOS) model.

Salvatore J. Cusumano is director of the Center for Directed Energy and assistant professor of optical engineering at the Air Force Institute of Technology, both positions held since 2005. As director of the Center, he manages research in high energy lasers (HELs) and high power microwaves (HPMs). Dr. Cusumano teaches graduate courses in electrodynamics and classical and Fourier optics. His research interests span the technologies of directed energy with an emphasis in pointing and tracking, adaptive optics, and beam control. He holds two patents, jointly, in phased array technology.