LONG PULSE LASER AMPLIFIER FOR LASER RADAR APPLICATIONS

A METHOD FOR CREATING AND AMPLIFYING LONG PULSE LASER WAVEFORMS (CO2, UV LASER, ETC.) IS BEING INVESTIGATED THAT COULD ELIMINATE AUXILIARY E-BEAM IONIZATION AND OPTICAL ISOLATION PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH A MASTER OSCILLATOR/POWER AMPLIFIER (MOPA) CONFIGURATION. FREQUENCY STABILITY COULD ALSO BE IMPROVED BY REMOVING MOST LIMP INDUCED FREQUENCY CHIRP. THE METHOD COULD BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A HIGH POWER (5-30+ KW), HIGH QUALITY, DIFFRACTION LIMITED OUTPUT BEAM. THE HARDWARE CONFIGURATIONIS COMPATIBLE WITH A REASONABLY COMPACT, LIGHTWEIGHT DEVICE SUITABLE FOR AIRBORNE OR SPACE BASED LASER RADAR APPLICATIONS. WHEN SUCCESSFUL, THIS RADICALLY DIFFERENT TECHNICAL APPROACH, WITH ITS LOWER COST WOULD SIGNIFICANTLY IMPACT CURRENT LASER RADAR TRANSMITTER TECHNOLOGY. THIS CONCEPT PROVIDES THE POTENTIAL FOR ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE IMPROVEMENT IN LASER PERFORMANCE PARAMETERS.