Recent Advances in Solid State Lasers At NASA Langley Research Center

This paper describes some of the laser development efforts that are ongoing in NASA Langley Research Center's Laser Systems Branch. The development efforts are aimed at meeting the solid state laser requirements for measuring atmospheric constituents from various platforms with the ultimate goal of deploying spaceborne instruments. Development of an ultraviolet source for ozone measurements is described, as well as, the advanced 2-micrometer eye-safe laser efforts for coherent winds and potentially DIAL measurements of carbon dioxide. Compositional tuning of a neodymium-garnet material is also presented. The 0.94 μm output being sought from this technique is ideal for making measurement of water vapor from space. An added benefit of the development of all of these laser sources is their capability to measure clouds and aerosols.