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, diode-based, locked wavelength, seed laser for seeding next generation Nd:YAG lasers currently being developed for future space-based, high spectral resolution Lidar (HSRL) measurements. The Phase I effort successfully demonstrated that a diode-based, wavelength-locked seed laser can provide the spectral purity required for HSRL systems, and as part of the effort developed a baseline design for a seed laser module with a defined footprint that will integrate into NASAs High Energy UV Demonstrator. A direct diode, wavelength locked seed laser will reduce the overall size weight and power (SWaP) requirements of the HSRL laser transmitter, and accelerates 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), thus directly addressing the need for developing compact, efficient, lidar component technologies for use in space-based environments.

Cloud and Aerosol Lidar Mission (ACE), NASA LaRC (Hostetler, Cook, et al.) MESCAL Lidar Mission (French-EU/EECLAT and US/ACE) Ocean Profiling Atmospheric Lidar (OPAL) 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

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 6) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.