HIGH POWER VISIBLE AND UV DIAMOND RAMAN LASERS FOR ADVANCED MESOSPHERIC BEACONS
Abstract
The transmission and receipt of information between earth and space is an increasingly vital in many fields, but is compromised by the scrambling that occurs by the intervening layers of atmospheric turbulence. Laser guide stars are an important technology for unscrambling signals through the use of adaptive optics. The performance of the guide star critically depends on the laser’s delivered power, wavelength and temporal properties. This project aims to develop diamond-laser based concepts for increasing the performance range of guide-star lasers. It is proposed to exploit the high power handling capability of diamond, along with intrinsic benefits for generating single-longitudinal mode output, to develop high-power diamond lasers with the properties needed to increase guide-star laser brightness, to pump atomic transitions in the ultraviolet and to operate in pulsed mode with high average power. An additional aspect is to investigate the use of fiber pump lasers with relaxed constraints on spatial and temporal coherence, to enable compatibility with a greater range of pump laser technologies. These advances are aimed to provide users in adaptive optics with practical lasers for higher quality imaging, faster data transfer rates and a wider range of application scenarios. These outcomes are expected to directly benefit the defence community and bring substantial benefits to end-users in the other LGS communities such as astronomy and optical communications and more broadly in application areas of high-power coherent lasers.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- May 10, 2022
- Source ID
- FA23862114030XX49
Entities
People
- Richard P. Mildren
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Macquarie University
- United States Air Force