DEVELOPMENT OF A DIODE-PUMPED LASER FOR SPACE-BASED COMMUNICATIONS

A HIGH-POWER, SINGLE-FREQUENCY LASER BASED ON A UNIQUE, MODULAR, NEODYMIUM (ND) GAIN-ELEMENT THAT IS PUMPED BY AN ARRAY OF SEMICONDUCTOR DIODE LASERS WILL BE DEVELOPED. THIS DEVICE WOULD BE CAPABLE OF DRIVING A COMPACT, MULTIWATT LASER TRANSMITTER IN A SPACE-BASED COMMUNICATION SYSTEM. OUTPUT POWERS IN EXCESS OF 10 WATTS COULD BE GENERATED BY INCLUDING MULTIPLE GAIN ELEMENTS IN A SINGLE LASER RESONATOR. THE PRIMARY GOALS OF THE PHASE I EFFORT ARE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF A PROTOTYPE GAIN MODULE INCLUDING A 10-WATTS, GAAIAS LASER ARRAY AND DEMONSTRATION OF A SINGLE-FREQUENCY, ND:YAG LASER BUILT AROUND THE PROTOTYPE MODULE AND CAPABLE OF GENERATING APPROXIMATELY 2 WATTS AT 1064 NM. A HIGH-POWER, SINGLE-FREQUENCY LASER BASED ON A UNIQUE, MODULAR, NEODYMIUM (ND) GAIN-ELEMENT THAT IS PUMPED BY AN ARRAY OF SEMICONDUCTOR DIODE LASERS WILL BE DEVELOPED. THIS DEVICE WOULD BE CAPABLE OF DRIVING A COMPACT, MULTIWATT LASER TRANSMITTER IN A SPACE-BASED COMMUNICATION SYSTEM. OUTPUT POWERS IN EXCESS OF 10 WATTS COULD BE GENERATED BY INCLUDING MULTIPLE GAIN ELEMENTS IN A SINGLE LASER RESONATOR. THE PRIMARY GOALS OF THE PHASE I EFFORT ARE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF A PROTOTYPE GAIN MODULE INCLUDING A 10-WATTS, GAAIAS LASER ARRAY AND DEMONSTRATION OF A SINGLE-FREQUENCY, ND:YAG LASER BUILT AROUND THE PROTOTYPE MODULE AND CAPABLE OF GENERATING APPROXIMATELY 2 WATTS AT 1064 NM.