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(010.3640) Atmospheric and ocean optics : Lidar (010.7340) Atmospheric and ocean optics : Water (140.3520) Lasers and laser optics : Lasers, injection-locked (140.3570) Lasers and laser optics : Lasers, single-mode (140.3590) Lasers and laser optics : Lasers, titanium (280.1910) Remote sensing : DIAL, differential absorption lidar
Abstract:
A gain-switched, single-frequency titanium-sapphire laser for atmospheric humidity measurements using the differential absorption lidar technique operating in the 820 nm wavelength region is described. The laser is pumped by a frequency-doubled, flashlamp-pumped Nd:YAG laser at a repetition rate of 50 Hz and injection seeded by two external-cavity-diode lasers. The system yields pulses with an energy of 15 mJ and high spectral purity. We describe a novel active injection-locking technique that avoids the problems of established methods like dither-lock or ramp-and-fire. Furthermore, our method opens the possibility to switch between two wavelengths for alternating shots, in contrast to most established techniques that only allow operation at one wavelength.
