Solid State Laser Technology — A NASA Perspective

Abstract

With the advent of the Space Station Program within the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), significant opportunities to conduct lidar experiments from space will emerge in the decade of the 1990’s to measure critical geophysical properties of the terrestrial atmosphere, land and oceans. The previous paper has discussed the concept of the Earth Observation System (EOS), with emphasis on those unique measurement requirements for lidar needed from a polar orbiting platform. Detailed scientific opportunities for a variety of remote sensor experiments can be found in a recently published NASA document.¹ In that document, it is apparent that many of the non-lidar experiments have a strong heritage in previous satellite and Shuttle flight experiments. In the case of lidar, the heritage lies in a long series of aircraft and ground-based experiments², in addition to a strong technology base which has been developed since the middle 60’s³. Laser technology, just as microelectronics technology, is rapidly evolving with a concurrent need within NASA to maintain a strong technological base. For the last decade, NASA has sponsored research in gas lasers, including CO₂ and excimer lasers, dye lasers and to some degree in the ruby and Nd:YAG laser technology.