High-Power Pump Laser for Ozone Lidar

A high-priority goal in the NASA ESE Science Plan is to understand and predict the tropospheric distribution, chemistry and transport of ozone. Lidar measurements from low earth orbit can provide a global survey of tropospheric ozone and aerosol layers with high vertical resolution. These observations can be complemented by regional measurements with lidars on small aircraft at higher spatial and temporal resolution. This synergistic approach can determine the global chemical and radiative consequences of tropospheric ozone and aerosols. We propose to develop and demonstrate a key component of a laser transmitter that can meet the performance requirements of both systems. In contrast to solid state, diode-pumped, high-energy, low-pulse-rate transmitters that have been considered for ozone lidar systems, our innovative approach is to use a high-pulse-rate (1 kHz) source with similar average powers to low-pulse-rate systems, but greatly reduced energies per pulse. The resultant reduction in the number of diodes and the size of the beam-handling optics leads to a lower-cost, lighter weight system, advantages for both the satellite- and aircraft-based systems.