Development of A High-Power Pulsed Laser via Sum-Frequency Generation for Sodium Lidar Applications

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We present the development of a nanosecond pulsed laser system resonating at sodium wavelength (589 nm) by means of sum frequency generation (SFG) with Nd:YAG lasers at 1064 nm and 1319 nm. This research is aimed to perform lidar measurements at mesospheric altitude, using sodium atoms as the tracer. These measurements include the determination of the sodium density, temperature and radial velocity. Two high power lasers at 1064 nm and 1319 nm are constructed using commercially available Nd:YAG gain modules as building blocks. The radiations emitted by the diode pumped Nd:YAG gain modules are picked up by two respective hemispherical optical cavities designed with high reflective mirrors at 1064 nm and 1319 nm, to produce stimulated emission at each wavelength. The 589 nm laser radiation is obtained by the sum frequency generation (SFG) of the two Nd:YAG pump laser outputs in a nonlinear crystal. Perfect mode matching, beam overlap, as well as temporal overlap of Q-switched pump laser pulses are ensured to achieve optimum frequency conversion in the SFG crystal. Precise tuning of the laser wavelength to the sodium D2 line is achieved by injection seeding of the 1064 nm pump laser with a single-frequency DFB laser. We have studied the performance of this laser for sodium lidar applications.

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