HIGH POWER PICOSECOND DIODE LASER

WE ARE PROPOSING TO BUILD A COMPACT LASER PULSE SOURCE WHICHIS THE BOTTLENECK IN THE CRITICALLY NEEDED INSTRUMENT KNOWN AS THE ULTRAFAST OPTICALLY TRIGGERED OSCILLOSCOPE. ADEQUATELASER PULSERS PRESENTLY OCCUP 10 SQUARE FEET, REQUIRE CONTINUOUS MAINTENANCE AND CONSUMER 15 KILOWATTS OF ELECTRICITY. OUR PULSE SOURCE WILL REQUIRE 20 SQUARE INCHES, USES LOW MAINTENANCE DIODE LASERS, AND DRAWS A FEW WATTS OF POWER. THIS VERY SPECIAL INSTRUMENTATION IS NEEDED TO TEST THE NEW HIGHSPEED INTEGRATED CIRCUITS, GAAS MICROWAVE DEVICES AND PICOSECOND TRANSISTORS, FOR PICOSECONDSYNCHRONIZATION OF ELECTRON BEAM DEVICES AND HIGH ENERGY LASERS, FOR GENERATING PRECISE WAVEFORM HIGH POWER MICROWAVE BURSTS, AND FOR DRIVING ANALOG TO DIGITAL CONVERTERS WITH 30 GHZ SAMPLING RATES. PICOSECOND RESOLUTION IS NEEDED TO EXTRACT THE MAXIMUM SPEED AND EFFICIENCY AND THEREFORE ECONOMIC ADVANTAGE FROM ULTRAFAST ELECTRONICS. THE PULSE OPTICAL SOURCE USES MULTIPLE SEMICONDUCTOR LASERS. OUR UNIQUE APPROACH SOLVES THE BANDWIDTH AND GROUP VELOCITY MISMATCH PROBLEMS RATHER THAN FIGHTING WITH THEM AS IS DONE IN PRESENT MODELOCKED LASERS. THE PROJECT OBJECTIVES INCLUDE A SIMPLE PRELIMINARY DEMONSTRATION OF THE CONCEPT AND ENOUGH MODELING TO INTERPRET THE RESULTS.