Construction and Characterization of a Pump Source for a Microchip Laser for Space Applications

Bruno Couto, Paulo Gordo, António Amorim

2019

Abstract

In the context of an apparent increasing interest in remote exploration of rocky celestial bodies, a pulsed microchip laser for time-of-flight range finding applications is under development. This paper addresses the design construction and testing of the pump source for this laser unit. Considering the small mass, miniature size and high pump power the space application requires, open emitter semiconductor lasers become the only real option as a main pumping source. However, this type of geometry is limited by a beam profile with significantly different divergence values on the fast and slow axes. We endeavoured to correct this issue by collimating each of the axis independently. After a design and simulation stage, the lenses were mounted in front of the main pump source with the aid of a custom made wavefront sensor.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Couto B., Gordo P. and Amorim A. (2019). Construction and Characterization of a Pump Source for a Microchip Laser for Space Applications.In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Photonics, Optics and Laser Technology - Volume 1: PHOTOPTICS, ISBN 978-989-758-364-3, pages 213-219. DOI: 10.5220/0007400602130219

in Bibtex Style

@conference{photoptics19,
author={Bruno Couto and Paulo Gordo and António Amorim},
title={Construction and Characterization of a Pump Source for a Microchip Laser for Space Applications},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Photonics, Optics and Laser Technology - Volume 1: PHOTOPTICS,},
year={2019},
pages={213-219},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0007400602130219},
isbn={978-989-758-364-3},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Photonics, Optics and Laser Technology - Volume 1: PHOTOPTICS,
TI - Construction and Characterization of a Pump Source for a Microchip Laser for Space Applications
SN - 978-989-758-364-3
AU - Couto B.
AU - Gordo P.
AU - Amorim A.
PY - 2019
SP - 213
EP - 219
DO - 10.5220/0007400602130219