Abstract: An electrically controlled RF phase shifter having an active medium formed rom a ceramic material the permittivity of which may be varied by varying the strength of an electric field in which it is immersed. The phase shifter includes the ceramic material having electrodes mounted thereon that are connected to an adjustable d-c voltage source. The phase shifter may be placed in an RF transmission line that includes appropriate input and output impedance matching devices such as quarter-wave transformers. The phase of the RF power exiting the phase shifter will depend on the effective electrical length of the material in the active medium. Because changes in the permittivity of the material will produce corresponding changes in the electrical length of the material, changes in the phase of the RF power transmitted therein will be produced. The quarter-wave transformers may also be made of a similar adjustable permittivity material.

Abstract: A method and system are provided to determine the relative orientation of o physical systems (i.e., assemblages of equipment which share a common, locally defined coordinate system). Two distinct beam vectors (i.e. fixed directions in three dimensional space) are simultaneously resolved by each physical system into their apparent vector components. This set of four apparent vectors is sufficient to uniquely and accurately define the transformation matrix relating the local coordinate system of the two physical systems and thus their relative orientation.Applications of the disclosed method and system relate to situations where observations made in one physical system are to be correlated with or acted upon by the other physical system.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for determining the accurate alignment of an intense optical beam wherein the beam is passed through a preselected region of an optical transmission element which absorbs a small amount of power transmitted therethrough producing a temperature distribution which is measured by appropriately placed thermal sensors whereupon the ratio of the temperature differences between the selected regions as measured by the thermal sensors provides an accurate indication of the beam's position and any deviations from a predetermined path.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for measuring the average power in an optical beam comprising, optical transmission means in the form of an optical element (e.g. a lens, window, or other optical component) placed in the path of said beam, means for maintaining a substantially fixed transmission path of said beam through said optical element, means for measuring the thermal gradient between the portion of said optical element through which said beam passes and the ambient medium, and means for indicating said gradient in terms of the power remaining in the optical beam after passing through the apparatus.