High-Pulse-Rate Green Laser for Undersea Communication

Q-Peak proposes to develop a high-repetition rate green laser source for use in underwater applications. The laser will produce pulses that are ~10’s of ns in width at MHz repetition rates. In the Phase I program, we demonstrated the operation of a laser oscillator at rates as high as 2.5 MHz limited by the amount of pump power available. The system design will focus on the most challenging mission requirements, which occur when transmission is impeded by scattering (clouds/turbidity) or background contributions (sunlight) are significant. Our system will also be able to address ~2.5 MHz repetition rates when conditions are favorable. Our approach to doing this will be to apply Q-Peak’s proprietary Nd:YVO4 amplifier technology to scaling the energy per pulse of the laser source. We believe that this a significant advantage over fiber amplifiers as non-linear effects in fibers as well as optical damage become significant at high pulse energies. The result of this program will be to develop a brassboard laser in a conduction-cooled package that is compact and efficient.