A Waveguide Based, High Power Pockels Cell Modulator for Sub-Nanosecond Pulse Slicing

The Goal of this STTR is to develop a high speed, high power, waveguide based modulator (phase and amplitude) and investigate its use as a pulse slicer. The key innovation in this effort is the use of potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP) waveguides making the high power, polarization based waveguide amplitude modulator possible. Furthermore because it is fabricated in KTP, the waveguide component will withstand high optical power and have a significantly higher rf modulation figure-of-merit (FOM) relative to lithium niobate.

Nonlinear waveguides are playing an increasingly important role in photonics applications, some of which include microwave photonics, up conversion, infrared detection, IR generation, and bio-photonics. Additional markets that can utilize high power, low loss, electro-optically efficient components are free space telecommunications, remote sensing, precision spectroscopy, interferometry and frequency metrology. The low loss, integrated planar lightwave circuit technology advanced in a high power handling NLO material will result in wide commercial applications for a host of watt class waveguide based photonic components previously unavailable on the commercial market.

This device should benefit various NASA recommended earth science decadal (http://decadal.gsfc.nasa.gov/index.html) missions for use in Lidar applications such as the ACE, LIST and DESDynI NASA programs. NASA has a need for low loss, high power waveguide based electro-optic devices for many missions including the Light Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) Mission, the NASA High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL) program, which requires the use of fiber pigtailed modulators and wavelength doublers to stabilize seed laser system for eventual satellite operation, the NASA Tropospheric Wind Lidar Technology Experiment (TWiLiTE) program which needs efficient, high power frequency conversion modules for ultra-violet (UV) generation and the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment-2(GRACE-2) NASA/JPL, which wants robust, high power, integrated, laser stabilization components.

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