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High Power, Compact Compressor for Eye-Safe, Fiber-based, Ultrashort Chirped Pulse Amplification Laser Systems
Navy SBIR 2008.1 - Topic N08-047 NAVSEA - Mr. Dean Putnam - [email protected] Opens: December 10, 2007 - Closes: January 9, 2008 N08-047 TITLE: High Power, Compact Compressor for Eye-Safe, Fiber-based, Ultrashort Chirped Pulse Amplification Laser Systems TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Electronics, Weapons ACQUISITION PROGRAM: PMS 405 Ultra Short Laser Development. ACAT Level N/A The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals, their country of origin, and what tasks each would accomplish in the statement of work in accordance with section 3.5.b.(7) of the solicitation. OBJECTIVE: To research and develop a highly efficient, compact compressor for 1 micron and 1.55 micron ultrashort laser amplifier systems capable of withstanding power levels in excess of 200 W average and 5 GW peak power. DESCRIPTION: High power, ultrashort pulse lasers are versatile tools with a wide range of applications. The combination of high energy and short pulse width found in these lasers make them ideal for applications such as remote sensing, micromachining, and any process requiring a nonlinear material response. High power, ultrashort laser systems utilize chirped pulse amplification (CPA) to produce high pulse energies while avoiding the problems associated with amplifying an ultrashort pulse. In CPA, an ultrashort pulse is stretched in time, amplified and then recompressed. Current high power, ultrashort laser systems utilize a variety of technologies to compress the stretched, amplified pulse, such as metallic gratings, prisms, and chirped mirrors. While all of these solutions have allowed for the development of high average and high peak power systems, none are sufficient for scaling laser systems to higher power or high peak power in a reasonable form factor and easy alignment. Both prisms and chirped mirrors can not compensate for the large stretch factors required by the higher power laser systems. In addition, prisms can introduce nonlinear phase distortions which are detrimental to a laser system. Volume bragg gratings have demonstrated reasonable pulse compression but are currently limited to small stretch factor and low beam quality. Grating-based compressors can be designed to have a very large compression factor, but thermal effects can limit the average power handling while damage due to optical absorption in the metallic coating limits the peak power handling. More advanced grating technologies are difficult to procure, require difficult alignment, and are typically dedicated to fundamental research experiments. PHASE I: Identify technologies and processes required to develop components for a high power, ultrashort laser compressor. The selected technologies and processes will produce components that meet the following criteria: PHASE II: The technologies and processes identified in Phase I will be implemented to demonstrate a high peak and average power pulse compressor. These components will be tested to verify the component characteristics and performance according to the requirements described in Phase I. Robust packaging, pulse width control methodology, and environment testing will also be performed in Phase II. PHASE III: A compact, high power compressor is expected to be integrated into high power, ultrashort laser systems for improved remote sensing, material ablation, explosive detonation, and other air and sea platforms. PHASE III efforts will focus on providing a complete CPA system based on the novel compressor technology PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: High performance compression techniques enable higher average power for USP lasers. There is a substantial market of USP laser vendors who could seek to enhance their core technology by making use of higher efficiency compression techniques. USP lasers can be utilized in a variety of commercial applications, including surgical, manufacturing, and laser processing. REFERENCES: 2. W. Kautek and J. Krüger, "Femtosecond pulse laser ablation of metallic, semiconducting, ceramic, and biological materials," SPIE, 2207, 600-611, (1994). 3. M. D. Perry, R. D. Boyd, J. A. Britten, D. Decker, B. W. Shore, C. Shannon and E. Shults, "High-efficiency multilayer dielectric diffraction gratings," Optics Letters, 20, 940 (1995). KEYWORDS: optics, lasers, ultra-short pulse, compression, dielectrics, gratings TPOC: J Thomas Schriempf
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