产生钠导引星星群的钠信标激光合/分束技术

研究了脉冲光束的偏振和时序非相干合成技术,通过偏振合束器将两路50 W级500 Hz的589 nm钠信标激光在空间上合为一束光线,成功突破了100 W级μs脉冲全固态钠信标激光输出;利用脉冲激光同步延时器控制两路激光脉冲的时序,使其按先后顺序合成一束脉冲激光,重复频率提升到1 kHz。合束后的激光光束质量M²约为1.41,与单光束的光束质量基本保持一致,光斑抖动性约为40μrad,可满足激光钠导引星自适应光学系统的应用需求。与传统的相干合成方法相比,该偏振和时序非相干合成方案具有结构简单、稳定、效率高的优点,且整个系统无需复杂的相位控制机制,为脉冲激光功率扩展提供了新途径。基于上述技术基础,结合自主提出的精密偏振分光专利技术,在丽江天文台通过一台发射望远镜将四束25 W/束的μs脉冲黄激光发射到钠层,成功产生了四颗钠导引星,这一结果将有助于推动大型地基光学望远镜中多层共轭自适应光学技术的发展。     

Pump pulse characteristics of quasi-continuous-wave diode-side-pumped Nd:YAG laser

The influence of pumping laser pulse on the property of quasi-continuous-wave (QCW) diode-side-pumped Nd:YAG laser is investigated theoretically and experimentally. Under remaining a fixed duty cycle, the average output power increases, and the corresponding thermal focal length shorten with the increase of the pump pulse duration, which attributes to the decrease of the ratio of pulse buildup time to the pulse duration. At a pump power of 146 W, the laser output power changes from 65.1 W to 81.2 W when the pulse duration is adjusted from 150 μ s to 1000 μ s, confirming a significant enhancement of 24.7%. A laser rate equation model incorporating the amplified spontaneous emission is also utilized and numerically solved, and the simulated results agree well with the experimental data.