The competitive advantage of the proposed approach is programmable, picosecond pulse generation with high optical powers with narrow linewidth. For high resolution lidar and laser communication systems, the narrow linewidth provides improved signal-to-noise ratio by filtering out background radiation using narrowband (~1 nm) interference filters. Short pulse and high power laser emission is the key source for time resolved laser induced fluorescent spectroscopy. Time resolved fluorescence provides temporal information about the molecular environment of the fluorophore over steady state fluorescent measurements. Fluorescent emission occurs over nanosecond time frames and therefore requires sub-ns pulses to trigger the fluorescence. AdvR recognizes that a significantly larger portion of the market ($10M-$15M vs $1.5M) requires at least 8 mW average output power. Thus AdvR has set its goal for > 10 mW and is highly motivated to demonstrate this goal through this Phase I effort.
During the Phase I, AdvR staff will discuss with NASA personnel the potential NASA applications in the area of high resolution lidar imaging with sub-ns pulses and long range optical telecommunications (laser transmitters) for the proposed product. In particular, NASA/GSFC has found AdvR's narrow linewidth, gain-switched laser to be the only commercially available laser that will meet their specifications. This laser would be substituted by the proposed pulse shaper device for exceptional, programmable control of investigative studies centered around narrow pulsed lasers emission. Several future NASA applications identified as part of the Decadal Survey Missions that are likely to benefit from utilizing AdvR's pulse shaper including LISA (NASA/GSFC EUD: Code 661 Gravitational Astrophysics Lab), LIST (Lidar for Surface Topography, NASA/GSFC, and ICESat (GSFC Laser Remote Sensing Branch, Code 924).
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