Differential synthetic aperture ladar.

We report a differential synthetic aperture ladar concept that relaxes platform and laser requirements compared with those for conventional synthetic aperture ladar. Line-of-sight translation-vibration constraints are reduced by several orders of magnitude, while laser frequency stability is typically relaxed by an order of magnitude. The technique is most advantageous for shorter laser wavelengths, ultraviolet to mid-infrared. Analytical and modeling results, including the effect of speckle and atmospheric turbulence, are presented.