Beam steering uncertainty analysis for Risley prisms based on Monte Carlo simulation

The Risley-prism system is applied in imaging LADAR to achieve precision directing of laser beams. The image quality of LADAR is affected deeply by the laser beam steering quality of Risley prisms. The ray-tracing method was used to predict the pointing error. The beam steering uncertainty of Risley prisms was investigated through Monte Carlo simulation under the effects of rotation axis jitter and prism rotation error. Case examples were given to elucidate the probability distribution of pointing error. Furthermore, the effect of scan pattern on the beam steering uncertainty was also studied. It is found that the demand for the bearing rotational accuracy of the second prism is much more stringent than that of the first prism. Under the effect of rotation axis jitter, the pointing uncertainty in the field of regard is related to the altitude angle of the emerging beam, but it has no relationship with the azimuth angle. The beam steering uncertainty will be affected by the original phase if the scan pattern is a circle. The proposed method can be used to estimate the beam steering uncertainty of Risley prisms, and the conclusions will be helpful in the design and manufacture of this system. (C) 2017 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)