Publications

All solid-state high-efficiency source for satellite-based UV ozone DIAL

Armstrong, Darrell J.; Smith, A.V.

During the past several years Sandia National Laboratories has carried out proof-of-concept experiments to demonstrate tunable, efficient, high-energy ultraviolet nanosecond light sources for satellite-based ozone DIAL. We designed our UV sources to generate pulse energies ≳ 200 mJ at 10 Hz in the range of 308-320 nm with optical-to-optical efficiency approaching 25%. We use sum-frequency generation to mix the 532 nm second harmonic of Nd:YAG with near-IR light derived from a self-injection-seeded image-rotating nonplanar-ring optical parametric oscillator. Laboratory configurations using extra- and intra-cavity sum-frequency generation were designed and tested, yielding 1064 nm to 320 nm conversion efficiencies of 21% and 23% respectively, with pulse energies of 190 mJ and 70 mJ. These energies and efficiencies require pump depletion in the parametric oscillator of at least 80% and SFG efficiency approaching 60%. While the results reported here fall slightly short of our original goals, we believe UV pulse energies exceeding 250 mJ are possible with additional refinements to our technology. Although the sources tested to date are laboratory prototypes with extensive diagnostics, the core components are compact and mechanically robust and can easily be packaged for satellite deployment.