Space-Hardened Seed Laser for Use in High Spectral Resolution Lidar Systems

The overall goal of the SBIR effort to develop a fully packaged, environmentally hardened wavelength-locked seed laser for seeding next generation Nd:YAG lasers currently being developed for future space-based, high spectral resolution lidar (HSRL) measurements. In addition to establishing that a diode-based, wavelength-locked, seed laser can provide the spectral purity required for HSRL systems, this effort will accelerate the establishment of a US manufacturer of compact, robust, space-qualifiable diode-based seed lasers for use in future HSRL missions being developed at the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC). A direct diode, wavelength locked seed laser will reduce the overall size weight and power (SWaP) requirements of the HSRL laser transmitter thus directly addressing the need for developing compact, efficient, lidar component technologies for use in airborne and space-based environments described in the NASA SBIR topic S1.01, Lidar Remote Sensing Technologies.

Cloud and Aerosol Lidar, NASA LaRC (Hostetler, Cook, et al.) Wind Lidar, NASA/GSFC (Gentry, et al.) DIAL Lidar, NASA/GSFC (Riris, et al.)

Laser source stabilization Commercial lidar systems Environmental and pollution monitoring Fiber and free-space communications

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