High Efficiency Athermalized Gain Module

Range-Resolved Doppler Imaging (RRDI) ladar has been singled out as the most promising advanced discrimination technology to augment existing advanced seekers on board MDA missile interceptors. Efforts are underway to develop compact RRDI ladar seekers to test against objective decoys and targets. These programs face many technical challenges, and there success hinges on parallel developments in advanced compact, high-power, near diffraction limited coherent solid-state lasers. Areté Associates proposes a highly innovative monolithic amplifier configuration that eliminates major technical barriers associated with legacy approaches. This novel approach enables high average power scaling of the objective advanced discrimination ladar transmitter waveform in a compact and rugged package that is compatible with the requirements of the delivery platform. The proposed amplifier architecture elegantly solves traditional efficiency roadblocks by minimizing parasitic losses due to amplified spontaneous emission, excited state absorption, indirect optical pumping, and laser diode thermal management. The use of advanced ultra-transparent ceramic composite materials enables power scaling to objective average powers of 500 W without levying harsh penalties on the packaging weight and volume.