Alberto Cosentino, Alessia Mondello, Adalberto Sapia, Alessandro D'Ottavi, Mauro Brotini, Enzo Nava, Emanuele Stucchi, Franco Trespidi, Cristina Mariottini, Paul Wazen, Nicolas Falletto, Michel Fruit
This paper describes the laser transmitter assembly used in the ALADIN instrument currently in C/D development phase for the ESA ADM-AEOLUS mission (EADS Astrium as prime contractor for the satellite and the instrument).
The Laser Transmitter Assembly (TXA), based on a diode pumped tripled Nd:YAG laser, is used to generate tunable laser pulses of 150 mJ at a nominal wavelength of 355 nm. This laser is operated in burst mode, with a pulse repetition cycle of 100 Hz.
The TXA is composed of the following units: a diodepumped CW Nd:YAG Laser named Reference Laser Head (RLH), used to inject a diode-pumped, Q-switched, amplified and frequency tripled Nd:YAG Laser working in the third harmonic referred as Power Laser Head (PLH) and a Transmitter Laser Electronics (TLE) containing all the control and power electronics needed for PLH and RLH operation.
The TXA is made by an European consortium under the leadership of Galileo Avionica (It), and including CESI (It), Quantel (Fr), TESAT (Ge) and Thales (Fr).
This paper describes energetic, spatial, temporal and spectral characterization measurements of the Engineering Qualification Model (EQM) of the Laser Transmitter Assembly (TXA) used in the ALADIN instrument currently under development for the ESA ADM-AEOLUS mission (EADS Astrium as prime contractor for the satellite and the instrument). The EQM is equivalent to the Flight Model, with the exception of some engineering grade components. The Laser Transmitter Assembly, based on a diode pumped tripled Nd:YAG laser, is used to generate laser pulses at a nominal wavelength of 355 nm. This laser is operated in burst mode, with a pulse repetition cycle of 100 Hz during bursts. It is capable to operate in Single Longitudinal Mode and to be tuned over 25 GHz range. An internal “network” of sensors has been implemented inside the laser architecture to allow “in flight” monitoring of transmitter. Energy in excess of 100 mJ, with a spatial beam quality factor (M2) lower than 3, a spectral linewidth less than 50 MHz with a frequency stability better than 4 MHz on short term period have been measured on the EQM. Most of the obtained results are well within the expected values and match the Instrument requirements. They constitute an important achievement, showing the absence of major critical areas in terms of performance and the capability to obtain them in a rugged and compact structure suitable for space applications. The EQM will be submitted in the near future to an Environmental test campaign.
Anomalous dynamical excitation of a side-mode which is below threshold in continuous wave conditions is
demonstrated in gain switching of laser diodes.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.