Patent ID: 8139205

Claim:
An optical payload, comprising: a laser rangefinder transmitter module comprising a rangefinder laser configured to emit a pulsed laser rangefinder beam and a small aperture telescopic lens system configured to substantially collimate and point the laser rangefinder beam at a target area; a laser target designator module comprising a designator laser configured to emit a pulsed laser target designator beam, a large aperture telescopic lens system configured to substantially collimate and point the designator beam at the target area, a laser rangefinder receiver module, first optical elements disposed along a first optical path between the large aperture telescopic lens system and the designator laser configured to direct the pulsed laser target designator beam from the designator laser to the large aperture telescopic lens system; and, second optical elements disposed along a second optical path between the large aperture telescopic lens system and the laser rangefinder receiver module configured to direct energy of the pulsed laser rangefinder beam that is reflected by the target area and collected by the large aperture telescopic lens system onto the laser rangefinder receiver module; wherein both the first optical elements and the second optical elements include a beam splitter, wherein the beam splitter and the first and second optical elements are configured to direct the laser target designator beam from the laser target designator module to the large aperture telescopic lens system and to direct the energy of the pulsed laser rangefinder beam that is reflected by the target area and collected by the large aperture telescopic lens system to the laser rangefinder receiver module, and wherein the beam splitter comprises a dichroic filter configured with a maximum spectral transmission substantially matched with a spectral emission of the designator laser and further configured with a maximum spectral reflectance substantially matched with the spectral emission of the rangefinder laser.