Deep ultraviolet laser for Raman spectroscopy

Deep Ultraviolet (DUV) lasers operating below 300nm are in increasing demand for a number of national security initiatives including: remote detection of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) material, and hazardous chemical passivation through plasmon enhanced nanoparticle photocatalysis. Increasing the distance at which CBRN material can be detected has been limited by the lack of a high power compact source laser operating below 250nm that has SWaP characteristics that allow for field deployment. This development program will deliver a narrow-linewidth CW laser operating at 244nm that does not need external cooling and will increase the remote detection capabilities of the US Army. Research on UV enhanced nanoparticle photocatalytic reactions is of increasing importance for deactivation and passivation of CBRN materials and for the treatment of water to contaminants. While UV enhanced photocatalysis has shown some success in chemical and biological treatment, the fundamental chemical and physical reactions are not well understood. The development of a high flux laser capable of delivering pulse energies between 1mJ and 15mJ across the DUV, UV and visible spectra will enable critical experiments to help understand the reaction dynamics, select the optimal nanoparticle size and composition, and expand the number of applications of the technology.