Laser and Efficient OPA for Driving High-Power Ultrashort Pulse Mid-Infrared Applications
Abstract
Project summary/abstract: Publicly releasableProgram Officer: Quentin Saulter, Directed Energy Weapons: Ultra-Short Pulse Laser andAtmospheric Characterization (Code 351)The goal of our current research funded by the Office of Naval Research is to enable new platforms for high-power, ultrashort pulse long-wave-infrared (LWIR) light that can serve as an efficient, tunable, broadband, low-sizeand low-weight alternative to CO2 lasers, which will help foster the next generation of atmospheric propagation applications, such as directed energy, IR countermeasures, ranging, remote sensing, free-space communications, and the triggering of electrical discharges, applications that are of interest to the U.S. Navy, U.S. Army, and U.S. Air Force. Our further goal is to produce sources of LWIR and mid-wave IR (MWIR) pulsed light with coverage of the full spectrum in these ranges having low atmospheric extinction coefficients, with incorporated adaptive pulse shaping that will enable new fundamental science to advance those applications. Additionally,we aim to educate the next generation of laser scientists who can contribute to this field, through access to state-of-the-art laser facilities and research into new, enabling concepts. In this proposal, we request instrumentation that will augment our program research. First, we request a near-infrared, high-power, femtosecond diode-pumped solid-state laser that will be used to drive the three different techniques for nonlinear optical frequency conversion that we are testing, all of them techniques for efficiently reducing the frequency of near-infrared ultrashort pulsed lasers to the LWIR and MWIR spectral ranges. Second, we request components for fabricating a first-of-its-kind optical parametric amplifier (OPA) that can convert a near-infrared laser to the mid-infrared with 100% quantum efficiency. Both light sources will be used to carry out and augment the objectives of our currently funded Office of Naval Research program# and in the process will be useful for training several graduate students in state-of-the-art laser technology # and will continue to be useful equipment for continuing and future naval and DoD research programs in our laboratory.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Mar 03, 2023
- Source ID
- N000142312274
Entities
People
- Jeffrey Moses
Organizations
- Cornell University
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy