Abstract

Researchers at NASA Langley Research Center have developed an efficient, high repetition rate, pulsed, 2-µm coherent DIAL/IPDA transmitter for CO₂ measurements. This transmitter will be employed to measure atmospheric CO₂ profiles (by DIAL) initially from a ground platform, and then measure both the atmospheric CO₂ profiles (by DIAL) and column densities (by IPDA) from an airborne platform with the potential for measuring CO₂ column density from a space-borne platform. The transmitter consists of a pulsed Q-switched ring-cavity Ho:YLF laser operating at 2.05 micron, being pumped by a Tm:fiber laser. The repetition rate can be adjusted from a few hundred Hz to 10 kHz with corresponding energy of 25 to 1 mJ, respectively. This transmitter can be used for direct or coherent detection of CO₂ from ground, air or space-borne platform, as it is capable of providing required energy/repetition rate even from space platform. This presentation will describe the details of the injection-seeded high-repetition rate 2-micron transmitter and demonstrate its flexibility for direct or coherent detection of CO₂.

© 2011 Optical Society of America