All Solid-State Laser System Continuously Tunable Over 0.2-10 micron Spectral Range

We propose to develop a broadly tunable all solid-state laser system able to address any wavelength between 200 nm and 10 um at average power levels of several watts. This laser source will be useful for remote sensing applications including laser induced flourescence and backscattering, doppler lidar, interferometry, and coherent imaging. The proposed laser system will be based on a combination of novel but proven solid-state laser technologies: high power, narrowband, broadly tunable alexandrite laser pump source and new robust , room temperature LiF color center laser materials initially developed by scientists in Russia, now at University of Alabama. It is believed that this technology can be both simpler, more efficient, reliable and power scalable than Nd:YAG pumped OPO's or any other existing tunable laser source technology. Emerging visible diode laser technology should permit further efficiency improvement and compactness possibly allowing space based systems to be developed. This proposal offers the simplest and most economical way to achieve widely tunable narrow-linewidth laser performance. Application areas include analytical chemistry and environmental monitoring, atmospheric remote sensing, medical fluorescence diagnostics, remote laser induced emission spectroscopy including combustion diagnostics, and wavelength specific military operations.