Narrow linewidth UV laser transmitter for ozone DIAL remote sensing application

Fibertek has demonstrated a dual-wavelength narrow linewidth UV laser transmitter for NASA airborne ozone DIAL remote sensing application. The application requires two narrow linewidth lasers in the UV region between 300 nm and 320 nm with at least 12 nm separation between the two wavelengths. Each UV laser was based on a novel ring structure incorporating an optical parametric oscillator (OPO) and a sum frequency generator (SFG). The fundamental pump source of the UV laser was a single frequency 532 nm laser, which was frequency-doubled from a diode-pumped, injection-seeded single frequency Nd: YAG laser operating at 1064 nm and 50 Hz repetition rate. The ring frequency converters generated UV wavelengths at 304 nm and 316 nm respectively. The demonstrated output energies were 2.6 mJ for 304 nm and 2.3 mJ for 316 nm UV lines, with room to potentially achieve more energy for each laser. Linewidth narrowing was achieved using a volume Bragg grating as the output coupler of the OPO in each ring oscillator. We obtained spectral linewidths (FWHM) of 0.12 nm for the 304 nm line and 0.1 nm for the 316 nm line, and the UV energy conversion efficiencies of 12.2% and 9.1%. Fibertek built an airborne DIAL transmitter based on the reported demonstration, which was a single optical module with dual-wavelength output at the demonstrated wavelengths. NASA plans to field the UV laser transmitter as a key component of the High Spectral Resolution Lidar-II (HSRL-II) high altitude airborne instrument to perform autonomous global ozone DIAL remote sensing field campaigns.