975 nm high-peak power ns-diode laser based MOPA system suitable for water vapor DIAL applications open site


SPIE open site
Date: Mar 10, 2015

Micro-DIAL (differential absorption LIDAR) systems require light sources with peak powers in the range of several 10 W together with a spectral line width smaller than the width of absorption lines under study. For water vapor at atmospheric pressure this width should be smaller than 10 pm at 975 nm. In this paper, an all semiconductor master oscillator power amplifier system at an emission wavelength of 975 nm will be presented. This spectral range was selected with respect to a targeted absorption path length of 5000 m and H2O line strengths. A distributed feedback (DFB) ridge waveguide diode laser operated in continuous wave is used as master oscillator whereas a tapered amplifier consisting of a RW section and a flared section is implemented as power amplifier. 

The RW section acts as optical gate. The current pulses injected into the RW part have a length of 
8 ns and the tapered part is driven with 15 ns long pulses. The delay between the pulses is adjusted for optimal pulse shape. The repetition rate is in both cases 25 kHz. A maximal pulse output power of about 16 W limited by the available current supply is achieved. The spectral line width of the system determined by the properties of the DFB laser is smaller than 10 pm. The tuning range amounts 0.9 nm and a SMSR of 40 dB is observed. From the dependence of the peak power on the power injected into the tapered amplifier, the saturation power is determined to 5.3 mW.

Application: Others