Development of a High Energy Er-Fiber Amplifier for a Space-based Wind, Aerosol, and Range Lidar Sensor

NASA is interested in Lidar technologies that will enhance the measurement of atmospheric and topographic parameters of the Earth, Mars, the Moon, and other planetary bodies. Compactness, efficiency, reliability, and long MTBF values are required in order for the instrument to be deployed on unconventional platforms such as balloon, small sat, CubeSat, and ground-based exploratory systems (rovers) as well as more conventional airborne and ground-based platforms. The design and implementation of a coherent Lidar (for wind measurement) for airborne and particularly for spaced-based measurements is a balance between several opposing factors if it is to operate affectively on small, unmanned platforms, whether they are space-based or not. The system must be: Compact – in order to meet restrictive size and weight requirements Efficient – limited power will be available for operation Reliable – missions are expensive and time-consuming on a graduated level from manned airborne, to unmanned terrestrial, to space-based platforms. Powerful – high-energy performance will be required for long range measurements. Eye-safe – for many Earth observation missions In order to meet these criteria Sibelloptics proposes a Phase 1 SBIR to perform a conceptual design of an adaptation of the Windimager ground-based system to a compact Lidar system for initial deployment on airborne platforms and eventual deployment on satellite systems and planetary rovers for future NASA missions. In addition, the output of the final fiber amplifier will be nearly doubled to a targeted energy (per pulse) of 600 mirco-Joule (at maximum pulsewidth) with a goal of 1 mJ.