Fiber Raman laser for sodium guide star

James T. Murray; W. Thomas Roberts Jr.; William Lucas Austin; Richard C. Powell; Domenico Bonaccini

doi:10.1117/12.321725

11 September 1998 Fiber Raman laser for sodium guide star

James T. Murray, W. Thomas Roberts Jr., William Lucas Austin, Richard C. Powell, Domenico Bonaccini

Proceedings Volume 3353, Adaptive Optical System Technologies; (1998) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.321725
Event: Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation, 1998, Kona, HI, United States

Abstract

The generation of sodium guide stars through laser excitation imposes very specific requirements on the laser. It has been argued that the most effective sodium guide star laser would operate CW with a mode spacing of less than the 10 MHz Doppler broadening profile of the mesospheric sodium. However, achieving high power in free-space optics with these requirements becomes very difficult because of the limited active gain volume and exceedingly long cavity requirement. The clear solution to these impediments is the development of a fiber raman laser (FRL) to shift the output of a solid state laser to a harmonic of the 589 nm sodium transition. The specific wavelength and bandwidth are selected from the large Raman gain spectrum by application- specific Distributed Bragg Reflectors. The guided-wave nature of the FRL allows for very large interaction volumes, while the long fiber length allows for narrowly-spaced modes which easily fill the sodium D₂ continuum. This paper reviews the theory and design of the Fiber Raman Guidestar Laser being developed for Astronomical Adaptive Optical systems.

Citation Download Citation

James T. Murray, W. Thomas Roberts Jr., William Lucas Austin, Richard C. Powell, and Domenico Bonaccini "Fiber Raman laser for sodium guide star", Proc. SPIE 3353, Adaptive Optical System Technologies, (11 September 1998); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.321725

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available