A high-power electro-absorption modulated 2d-array laser source for FM/cw scannerless lidar

A scannerless amplitude-modulated (AM) semiconductor lidar (or laser radar) using frequency-modulation continuous wave ranging (FM/cw) techniques is one of the most promising research directions at present. In this lidar system, the high-power AM laser source is a key component of the lidar transmitter. First of all, we present here the architecture of an FM/cw scannerless AM ladar and summarize and analyze various schemes of high-power laser modulation. Then we put forward a new method for obtaining a high-power AM laser output, that is, to compose a two-dimensional (2D) array light source with laser diodes (LDs) and electro-absorption modulation modules (EAMs). Finally, the optical properties of electro-absorption modulated laser arrays are briefly analyzed. The analysis shows that the modulated laser arrays have the features of integration and miniaturization and can realize incoherent light illumination in the far field. This laser array is potentially a more ideal high-power AM laser source applied to an FM/cw scannerless imaging lidar.     

Rb saturation spectroscopy with an optically narrowed FM diode laser

A fast-frequency modulated (FM) diode laser has been optically narrowed using the technique of resonant optical feedback, to provide linewidths in each FM mode of ≈ 200 kHz peak-to-peak. With a drive frequency of 50 MHz and modulation index of 0.2, the FM laser has been used for the first time to obtain Doppler-free FM spectra of the Rb D₁ line at 795 nm. The potential use of this system for laser frequency stabilisation is discussed.     

Linearity Requirement for a Linear Frequency Modulation Lidar

The nonlinear of the frequency modulation in linear frequency modulation (LFM) lidar seriously affects the accuracy of range and velocity. We describe the influence of nonlinear of the frequency modulation on the accuracy. The frequency-domain analysis of heterodyne signal is used to deduce the linearity requirement for LFM lidar.     

高功率宽带射频调制连续激光源

射频强度调制激光作为激光雷达系统的载波可以有效提高系统的抗干扰和抗散射能力,高功率宽带射频强度调制光源是实现高分辨率远距离探测的关键.本文采用在Nd:YAG激光器的耦合腔中插入一对四分之一波片的方法实现了频差调谐范围为30 MHz—1.5 GHz的双频激光输出,结合光纤振荡功率放大技术,将双频信号光功率放大为50 W.耦合腔双频种子源具有良好的功率和频率稳定性,输出功率为9.5 mW时,功率标准差为0.145 mW,稳定性为1.52%,输出双频激光的频差为250 MHz时,拍频的标准差为1.6144 MHz.种子光进行三级光纤功率放大,得到50 W双频激光输出.放大后的双频激光功率波动范围小于0.1 W,双频拍频的标准差为1.777 MHz,很好地保持了放大之前的功率稳定性和双频频差稳定性.     

Femtosecond laser pumped by high-brightness coherent polarization locked diodes

We demonstrate, for the first time to our knowledge, the use of a coherent polarization locked diode as the high-brightness pump source for a femtosecond laser. Four diode emitters are coherently locked to produce more than 5 W linearly polarized, narrow linewidth, and single-lobed pump beam. This gives >10× brightness improvement over the conventional diode array. The diode beam is then used to pump a Yb:KYW laser to obtain 2 W output with 57% slope efficiency in cw laser operation. By using a saturable absorber mirror, we achieved cw mode-locking operation with a 177 fs pulse width at an average power of 0.55 W.     

Continuous‐wave differential absorption lidar

This work proves the feasibility of a novel concept of differential absorption lidar based on the Scheimpflug principle. The range‐resolved atmospheric backscattering signal of a laser beam is retrieved by employing a tilted linear sensor with a Newtonian telescope, satisfying the Scheimpflug condition. Infinite focus depth is achieved despite employing a large optical aperture. The concept is demonstrated by measuring the range‐resolved atmospheric oxygen concentration with a tunable continuous‐wave narrow‐band laser diode emitting around 761 nm over a path of one kilometer during night time. Laser power requirements for daytime operation are also investigated and validated with single‐band atmospheric aerosol measurements by employing a broad‐band 3.2‐W laser diode. The results presented in this work show the potential of employing the continuous‐wave differential absorption lidar (CW‐DIAL) technique for remote profiling of atmospheric gases in daytime if high‐power narrow‐band continuous‐wave light sources were to be employed.

     

Conditions for the harmonic-like and efficient amplitude modulation of the cw gaussian laser beam by means of a mechanical chopper

The values of the chopping disc slot and mark space widths relative to the radius of the Gaussian beam are found, which achieve optimum harmonic-like and efficient amplitude modulation of the cw laser beam. The simple approximation for the waveform of the modulated laser power valid for these optimum or near optimum values of the chopping disc parameters is presented.     

激光二极管泵浦的全固体锁模激光器

报道了用国产激光二极管泵浦Ｎｄ：ＹＶＯ４激光器连续锁模的实验结果。在泵浦功率为１２２．４ｍＷ时获得稳定的锁模序列，脉冲宽度４３ｐｓ（ＦＷＨＭ），输出功率７ｍＷ，实验中在较低的泵浦强度下观察到了弛豫振荡的振幅调制现象，并导出了含有自相位调制时锁模宽度的自恰解。     

Waveform of the amplitude modulated laser light by means of a mechanical chopper

The model which reproduces accurately and conveniently the waveform of the amplitude modulated cw laser light in the TEM₀₀ mode by a mechanical chopper is developed. It is found that its predictions are in good agreement with the strict, completely accurate but rather lengthy and inconvenient treatment and with the experiment. The criterion for the efficient amplitude modulation of the laser light by a mechanical chopper is formulated.     

强度调制532 nm激光水下测距

激光水下探测在水下目标搜寻、资源勘探等领域具有重要的应用,而散射是激光水下探测面临的主要挑战.载波调制激光雷达具有抗散射、抗干扰的优点,本文利用自行研制的532 nm强度调制激光源,在3 m长的水箱中搭建激光水下探测系统. 532 nm激光源最大输出功率为2.56 W,强度调制范围为10.0 MHz—2.1 GHz,光束发散角约0.5 mrad.通过在水箱中添加氢氧化镁(Mg(OH)_2)粉末,测量了不同浑浊度下水的衰减系数.采用相位测距的方法,目标反射光的调制信号为探测信号,对激光源进行调制的电信号作为参考信号,利用相关运算获得激光的延时时间,进而可以获得水下目标的距离.最大调制频率为500 MHz时,实现了距离为4.3个衰减长度目标的探测,测距误差约12 cm.探测距离越远,测距误差越大,调制频率越高,测距精度越高.     

Low-threshold singly-resonant continuous-wave optical parametric oscillator based on MgO-doped PPLN

We present a 532 nm-pumped singly-resonant cw optical parametric oscillator based on MgO-doped PPLN with a minimum threshold pump power of 0.3 W. The OPO with a two-mirror standing-wave cavity is optimized by using a tunable diode laser on the path of the resonant signal beam. The maximum output power is 200 mW at an idler wavelength near 1330 nm at a pump power of 2 W. We report the degradation of the output power and beam characteristics at high pump power indicating a strong thermal lensing in the crystal. The continuous tuning range of the OPO is measured to be 800 MHz which is close to 90% of the free spectral range of the OPO cavity.     

连续波差分吸收激光雷达测量大气CO_2

研制了一套接收硬目标回波的差分吸收激光雷达系统以用于全天候监测大气CO2浓度变化.系统采用10和12 kHz正弦波分别对处在CO2吸收峰内和吸收峰外的波长进行强度调制,利用单频检测技术提取回波信号.提出了一种利用激光扫频推算系统精度的方法,从而弥补了长期以来只能在理论上计算差分吸收激光雷达系统精度的不足,给实际系统自定标问题提供了一种解决方案.该系统采用全光纤结构,结构可靠,便于移动.利用此系统获得了上海市多天CO2浓度变化曲线,在450 m的积分路径长度上,1 s的积分时间取得了优于3.39×10-6的测量精度.     

A cw CO2 laser rangefinder using heterodyne detection and on-off amplitude modulation

A CO₂ laser rangefinder has been built that uses an acousto-optic modulator to obtain an amplitude modulated optical beam from a cw laser. An on-off deflected beam was obtained by driving the modulator with a carrier modulated by a periodic binary code. The received infra-red radiation was heterodyne detected. After envelope detection of the heterodyne signal, the signal-to-noise ratio was improved by applying a digital integrator. Ranging was carried out by calculating the delay of the received code by means of a cross-correlation technique. For this purpose a minicomputer was implemented in the system. Using 1 W average beam power and measuring times less than 1 s, ranges of several kilometers have been determined from stationary targets.     

基于光纤激光相控阵的空间激光通信系统

为了满足超远程和高速空间激光通信的需求,设计了一种以1.06 m光纤激光4支路相控阵作为发射源的通信系统结构。采用53 Mb/s、120 Mb/s、155 Mb/s速率调制的伪随机序列,实验了相控阵种子源和一条支路处调制的2种方案。结果表明:相同速率下,种子源调制的接收眼图质量较好,通过相位控制,可以进一步提高接收质量。实验中,研究了2条支路光分别调制的相控阵多载波特性,调制信号采用5/5.08 MHz及20/40 MHz两组正弦波,经光束合成和相位控制,在接收端观测到相应的频域信号。实验初步验证了光纤激光相控阵空间通信系统的可行性。     

High-power, high-efficiency cw diode-pumped Tm:YAP laser emitting at 1.99?μm

We elaborate a high-power, high-efficiency cw Tm:YAP laser dual-end-pumped by the laser diode. With 41.9?W pumping power, we obtain a maximum cw output power of 14.7?W at 1988?nm with a slope efficiency of 43.8%, corresponding to an optical conversion efficiency of 35.1%. At the maximum laser output, we measure a beam quality of M ²?~?1.9.     

200W级高亮度半导体激光器光纤耦合模块

光纤激光器系统需要高可靠性、高亮度、高功率光纤耦合输出二极管激光器模块作为泵浦源。基于mini-bar二极管激光器芯片,采用光束精密准直技术、自由空间合束技术来获得高亮度、高功率光纤耦合输出,针对光纤芯径为200μm、数值孔径为0.22的多模光纤,开展了线偏振二极管激光光纤耦合实验,实验结果表明:光纤稳定输出功率达280 W,对应亮度为5.87 MW/(cm2·sr),电-光效率为45.0%。采用偏振合束技术,光纤预期输出功率可达500 W,对应亮度超过10 MW/(cm2·sr)。该方法可应用于研制数百瓦级高亮度二极管激光光纤耦合输出激光器模块。     

原子廓线激光多普勒测速仪

论述了用原子滤波器的透射率廓线测量激光多普勒频移的直接检测方法和理论，报道了基于这个方法的一个原理性实验。实验采用二极管泵浦的连续倍频Ｎｄ；ＹＡＧ激光器作为发射器，和一个温控的透射率翼宽为３８０ＭＨＺ的碘滤波器作为多普勒频移检测器件进行了转透速度的测量。     

High-resolution spectroscopy with and frequency stabilization of a cw dye laser

The hyperfine splittings of the Na D₁ and D₂ lines were investigated using a single mode cw dye laser. The light of the laser was scattered by the atoms of an atomic beam and the fluorescent light was observed as the frequency of the laser was tuned across the D lines. The Doppler width of the atomic beam was reduced to about 2.5 MHz so that the absorption width of the atoms of the beam was essentially determined by the natural width of the 3²P_1/2 and 3²P_3/2 levels, which is about 10 MHz. Since the linewidth observed for the hyperfine transitions was 30 MHz, most of the hyperfine components of the D₁ and D₂ lines could be resolved. In another experiment the frequency of the dye laser was locked to a hyperfine transition of the D₁ line. The observed variation of the output frequency of the dye laser was less than ±1.5 MHz. In addition, the intensity of the dye laser was controlled to about 10⁻³, using an electro-optically variable transmission filter.     

Application of Geometrical Form Factor in Differential Absorption Lidar Measurement

The peak position for a lidar return signal is calculated and measured for the horizontal path with variation of the laser beam divergence angle (θ), and the inclination angle (δ) between the telescope and laser axes. This work shows that θ and δ are very important parameters to use in the design or alignment of a lidar system receiving a good lidar signal. This paper describes an experimental determination of geometrical form factors in the lidar equation. We receive the signals and determine the geometrical form factors by slope method in a homogeneous atmosphere. The differential absorption lidar equation is evaluated for the dual-pulse lidar system. A method using a geometrical form factor determined by the experiment is introduced to correct the error in C₂H₄ measurement. This method shows good correction of measurement error in lidar dual-pulse operation, especially in the short range.     

Parameter optimization of pulse compression in ultrasound imaging systems with coded excitation

A linear array imaging system with coded excitation is considered, where the proposed excitation/compression scheme maximizes the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and minimizes sidelobes at the output of the compression filter. A pulse with linear frequency modulation (LFM) is used for coded excitation. The excitation/compression scheme is based on the fast digital mismatched filtering. The parameter optimization of the excitation/compression scheme includes (i) choice of an optimal filtering function for the mismatched filtering; (ii) choice of an optimal window function for tapering of the chirp amplitude; (iii) optimization of a chirp-to-transducer bandwidth ratio; (iv) choice of an appropriate n-bit quantizer. The simulation results show that the excitation/compression scheme can be implemented as a Dolph–Chebyshev filter including amplitude tapering of the chirp with a Lanczos window. An example of such an optimized system is given where the chirp bandwidth is chosen to be 2.5 times the transducer bandwidth and equals 6 MHz: The sidelobes are suppressed to −80 dB, for a central frequency of 4 MHz, and to −94 dB, for a central frequency of 8 MHz. The corresponding improvement of the SNR is 18 and 21 dB, respectively, when compared to a conventional short pulse imaging system. Simulation of B-mode images demonstrates the advantage of coded excitation systems of detecting regions with low contrast.