Atmospheric Absorption Parameters for Laser Propagation

Abstract

The ability of high-energy lasers to penetrate the terrestrial atmosphere without loss of energy or focus has been the primary focus of this project. The task developed here has been to improve the line positions, intensities, and air-broadened half-widths of water vapor, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and methane in the spectral regions of candidate high-energy lasers. This effort required acquisition of new high-resolution, high photometric accuracy spectroscopic data, as well as the applications of quantum mechanical theoretical calculations. The results, after validation, evaluation and comparison with current data, have been cast into the format of the HITRAN molecular spectroscopic data base. HITRAN is the input for standardized high-resolution transmission and radiance codes, enabling assessment of laser performance among other applications.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 15, 2005
Accession Number
ADA434606

Entities

People

  • Laurence S. Rothman

Organizations

  • Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Absorption
  • Accuracy
  • Air Force Research Laboratories
  • Atmospheres
  • Atmospheric Attenuation
  • Carbon Dioxide
  • Free Electron Lasers
  • High Energy
  • High Energy Lasers
  • High Resolution
  • Intensity
  • Lasers
  • Measurement
  • Observatories
  • Spectra
  • Spectroscopy
  • Water Vapor

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Enterprise Information Systems Architecture and Joint Command Capability Interoperability Support.
  • Optical Physics and Photonics.
  • Spectroscopy.

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy
  • Directed Energy - Lasers
  • Quantum Computing