HIGH-PULSE-RATE BLUE OPTICAL SOURCE

LASER-BASED SUBMARINE COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS HAVE BEEN UNDER INVESTIGATION FOR A NUMBER OF YEARS. ONE RECENT SYSTEMS CONCEPT, DESIGNED FOR COMMUNICATIONS UPLINKS, INVOLVES THE USE OF A FREQUENCY-AGILE, KHZ-REPETITION-RATE SOURCE OPERATING IN THE WATER-TRANSMISSION WINDOW. IN THIS PROPOSAL WE PRESENT A PLAN TO DEVELOP A SOLID STATE, TI:SAPPHIRE-BASED, RAPIDLY TUNABLE, NARROW-LINEWIDTH LASER THAT WOULD BE THE MASTER OSCILLATOR IN A HIGH-POWER, INJECTION-SEEDED SYSTEM. THE LASER COULD BE USED TO DEMONSTRATE AND TEST ANY TUNABLE RECEIVERS DEVELOPED FOR THE ENTIRE COMMUNICATIONS PACKAGE AND COULD SERVE AS A SEEDING SOURCE FOR HIGH-POWER SLAVE OSCILLATORS. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS - A RAPIDLY TUNABLE SOURCE, EITHER AT THE TI:SAPPHIRE FUNDAMENTAL WAVELENGTH OR AT THE SECOND HARMONIC, COULD BE USED IN CONJUNCTION WITH DIFFRACTIVE OPTICS TO RAPIDLY ACCESS OPTICAL DISKS, EXPOSE PHOTOREFRACTIVE CRYSTALS OR STEER A BEAM OVER A LARGE ANGLE.