Digital Acquisition and Wavelength Control of Seed Laser for Space-Based LIDAR Applications, Phase II

The primary customer is NASA Langley's High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL) program for aerosol and cloud characterization. This system is being considered for the ACE lidar by NASA's ACE Science Working Group because of the higher information content it provides over backscatter lidar on key aerosol optical and microphysical properties. The proposed technology will find multiple uses in other NASA's lidar remote sensing programs, such in altimetry, DIAL lidar, and 3D WINDS where compact, low cost, stabilized single frequency laser sources are required, and also has potential application in spectroscopic measurement techniques. In addition to NASA's use in various lidar systems, a digitally controlled, compact, low cost, wavelength stabilized, diode-based seed source can also be applied for systems requiring high frequency stability, such as long path difference interferometery, holography, spectroscopy, and metrology. A compact frequency stabilized seed laser source may find use in fiber and free-space communications where rapid, moderate power phase modulation is required. Medical applications that may benefit from this technology include medical imaging and phase-modulation fluorimetry in bioprocess and clinical monitoring. A number of commercial lidar or lidar-like systems will benefit from the insertion of this technology, including environmental and pollution monitoring, floodplain measurement, land use assessment, bathymetry, robotics and machine vision applications. More »