HIGH POWER, HIGH REPETITION RATE, DIODE-PUMPED, SOLID STATE LASER TRANSMITTER

A HIGH-POWER, EFFICIENT, ROBUST LASER TRANSMITTER, NEEDED FOR TOPOGRAPHIC MEASUREMENTS FROM REMOTE SPACE PLATFORMS, IS THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT. THIS PROJECT DESCRIBES THE DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION, AND CHARACTERIZATION OF A PROTOTYPE LASER THAT WILL GENERATE PULSES OF 1.047 MUM LIGHT HAVING ENERGY GREATER THAN 1MJ AT A REPETITION RATE UP TO 1 KHZ. THE PULSE LENGTH WILL BE 10 5 NS TO PROVIDE A SPATIAL RESOLUTION OF APPROXIMATELY 3 METERS AS REQUIRED BY TOPOGRAPHIC MEASUREMENTS. A NOVEL FEATURE OF THIS LASER IS THAT IT WILL USE ONE OF THE NEW 15-WATT DIODE LASER BARS IN AN EFFICIENT, END PUMPED CONFIGURATION. THIS FEATURE WILL PERMIT THE LASER TO BE VERY COMPACT AND EASILY SCALABLE TO HIGHER POWERS AS THE DIODE LASER BARS CONTINUE TO INCREASE IN OUTPUT POWER. ALSO, THIS LASER WILL EMPLOY AN ACOUSTO-OPTIC Q-SWITCH THAT WILL ALLOW REPETITION RATES OF GREATER THAN 50 KHZ AT REDUCED PULSE ENERGY. A HIGH-POWER, EFFICIENT, ROBUST LASER TRANSMITTER, NEEDED FOR TOPOGRAPHIC MEASUREMENTS FROM REMOTE SPACE PLATFORMS, IS THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT. THIS PROJECT DESCRIBES THE DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION, AND CHARACTERIZATION OF A PROTOTYPE LASER THAT WILL GENERATE PULSES OF 1.047 MUM LIGHT HAVING ENERGY GREATER THAN 1MJ AT A REPETITION RATE UP TO 1 KHZ. THE PULSE LENGTH WILL BE 10 5 NS TO PROVIDE A SPATIAL RESOLUTION OF APPROXIMATELY 3 METERS AS REQUIRED BY TOPOGRAPHIC MEASUREMENTS. A NOVEL FEATURE OF THIS LASER IS THAT IT WILL USE ONE OF THE NEW 15-WATT DIODE LASER BARS IN AN EFFICIENT, END PUMPED CONFIGURATION. THIS FEATURE WILL PERMIT THE LASER TO BE VERY COMPACT AND EASILY SCALABLE TO HIGHER POWERS AS THE DIODE LASER BARS CONTINUE TO INCREASE IN OUTPUT POWER. ALSO, THIS LASER WILL EMPLOY AN ACOUSTO-OPTIC Q-SWITCH THAT WILL ALLOW REPETITION RATES OF GREATER THAN 50 KHZ AT REDUCED PULSE ENERGY.