A beam control system and method. In an illustrative embodiment, the
inventive system (500) provides a first beam of electromagnetic energy
(503); samples the first beam (503) and provides a second beam (505) in
response thereto; detects aberrations in the second beam (505); and
corrects aberrations in the first beam (503) in response to the detected
aberrations. In a specific implementation, the invention (500) includes a
beam director telescope (510) having a primary mirror (516) on which a
holographic optical element (518) is disposed. The holographic optical
element (518) samples the output high-power beam and provides a sampled
beam to a wavefront sensor (520). The wavefront sensor (520) provides
signals to an adaptive optics processor (580). The adaptive optics
processor (580) analyzes the sampled wavefront, detects aberrations
therein and provides a correction signal to an optical phased array (550).
