84560
Presenter: Ji Son
Mentor: Haris Catrakis
Title: Aero-Optics Technologies for the Optimization of Directed-Energy Systems in Aerospace
Engineering
The purpose of the study is to enhance the general understanding of laser beam propagation for
aero-optics and laser communications. Therefore the main objectives are to develop a computational
modeling methodology of aero-optical interactions for simulations at representative turbulent flow
conditions and to relate the performance of directed-energy systems to the large-scale and small-scale
flow behavior with implications for optimization. By relating the optical path length, the refractive
index field, and the distance along the local optical ray path using the Optical Path Length Integral,
the computational algorithm was produced. Using the algorithm, the optical path length variations
are computed, and correlated to the interfacial-fluid-thickness behavior.