A-Metrics, SEO to Develop FSM Technology

A-Metrics LLC of Charlotte, N.C., and SEO Precision Inc. of Crosby, N.D., have announced a partnership to advance fast steering mirror (FSM) technology for laser guidance products. SEO will design and develop FSM products using A-Metrics transducers in applications such as customized directed energy weapons systems, laser communications and biometrics. A-Metrics owns patented technology to produce ultraprecision displacement transducers with Angstrom sensitivity. In directed energy weapons systems -- used to defend against ballistic and cruise missiles and disable air, ground and sea transport vehicles -- FSMs help mitigate the “jitter” inherent in high energy laser beams. They also diminish “pointing jitter” in laser communications applications, ensuring the extreme accuracy essential for high-capacity data transmission rates. “Our new joint capability will enable customers to focus on the head of a pin from 1000 miles away, opening new frontiers in reconnaissance and laser communications,” said Bruce Fagerland, CEO of SEO Precision. The companies said they are also jointly developing technologies for extremely precise iris scanning from over 100 meters for security identification and other uses.

PI Physik Instrumente - Fast Steering MR LW 11/24

Published: November 2007

Glossary

angstrom: An angstrom, symbolized by the Ångström or Å, is a unit of length used to express atomic and molecular dimensions. It is equal to 0.1 nanometers or 1 × 10-10 meters. The angstrom is named after the Swedish physicist Anders Jonas Ångström, who made significant contributions to the understanding of spectroscopy and atomic structure in the 19th century. This unit is particularly convenient for describing the sizes of atoms, molecules, and the wavelengths of...
laser communications
nano: An SI prefix meaning one billionth (10-9). Nano can also be used to indicate the study of atoms, molecules and other structures and particles on the nanometer scale. Nano-optics (also referred to as nanophotonics), for example, is the study of how light and light-matter interactions behave on the nanometer scale. See nanophotonics.
photonics: The technology of generating and harnessing light and other forms of radiant energy whose quantum unit is the photon. The science includes light emission, transmission, deflection, amplification and detection by optical components and instruments, lasers and other light sources, fiber optics, electro-optical instrumentation, related hardware and electronics, and sophisticated systems. The range of applications of photonics extends from energy generation to detection to communications and...

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