Update On The NASA Laser Risk Reduction Program LRRP

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• Update On The NASA Laser Risk Reduction Program
  (LRRP)
• Michael J. Kavaya, Upendra N. Singh
• NASA/LaRC
• Working Group on Space-Based Lidar Winds
• Oxnard, CA
• Feb. 17, 2003

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History Of New LRRP Initiative
Code Y Space Lidar Mission Risks
External Review Recommendations
(11/00, Alejandro et al)
New Code R 02 Initiative
Integrated NASA Lidar Systems Strategy Team
(INLSST) Studies Recommendations
New Code Y 02 Initiative
(6/01, Singh, Heaps, et al)
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Independent Laser Review Panel

• Alejandro, Hardesty, Hicks, Killinger, Lapp
• NASA should
• Develop critical technology elements before a
  science mission
• Insist on advanced TRL before science mission
  approval
• Insist on science-technology tradeoff
• Maintain internal laser expertise
• etc.

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Key Priority Measurements for Earth Science
Enterprise

• Cloud/Aerosols and Radiative Forcing
• Tropospheric Winds
• Tropospheric Ozone
• Carbon Cycle (CO2, Biomass)
• Surface Mapping
• Oceanography

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NASA Laser Risk Reduction Program
2 Lasers, 4 Techniques, 6 Priority Measurements
Pulsed Laser Development
2.05 micron
DIAL CO2
Backscatter Lidar Aerosols/Clouds
2 MICRON
2.05 micron
Atmosphere Lower Upper
Coherent Winds
Doppler Lidar

Key Technologies in Common Laser Diodes Laser
Induced Damage Frequency Control Electrical
Efficiency Heat Removal Ruggedness
Lifetime Contamination Tolerance
Coherent
High Accuracy High Resolution Lower Trop. Clouds
Hybrid Lidar Winds
Noncoherent Winds
Direct
Global Coverage Medium Resolution Medium
Accuracy Mid/Upper Atmosphere
0.355 micron
X3
1 MICRON
X2
Altimetry
DIAL Ozone
Surface Mapping, Oceanography
1.06 micron
Backscatter Lidar Aerosols/Clouds
X2
0.30-0.32 micron
0.532 micron
OPO
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Components Of LRRP

• GSFC Areas of Concentration
• 1-Micron Laser Development
• Pump Diode Characterization (808 nm)
• Wavelength Conversion From 1-Micron to UV, High
  P
• LaRC Areas of Concentration
• 2-Micron Pulsed Transmitter Laser Development
• Pump Laser Diode Arrays Development,
  Characterization, Qualification (792 nm)
• Wavelength Conversion From 1-Micron to UV, High E
• Detector/Receiver Advancement For Coherent and
  Direct Detection at 2-Microns

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LRRP Roadmap - LaRC
C Contamination Lifetime Study and Tests
Material Res Quantum Mech. Modeling
Rad Damage Tests
Laser Resonator Power Efficiency
Multi-Joule 12 Hz 2-Micron Transmitter Laser
E Packaging (Flight-Hardened System)
Global Winds CO2
B Conductively-Cooled Laser Head
Laser Amplifier
Laser Oscillator
A Rad Th/Vac Tests
Test/Charact. Facility
Life Test Quality
Test Perf./Reliability
Laser Diodes Availability Life/Quality
AAdvance Laser Diode Technologies
AContamination Handling Protocols
Define Reqmts Innovations
Qualification Procedures
Low-Noise Detector for CO2 Meas.
Characterization Facilities
Receiver Subsystem Efficiency Size/Mass
Lightweight Scanning Telescope
Global Ozone Meas.
Highly-Efficient Heterodyne Receiver
Define Reqmts Innovations
D Non-linear Material Res. OPO Modeling
Dual Pump Parametric Oscillator
Wavelength Conversion Power Efficiency
500 mJ X 10 Hz 308nm 320 nm 2 Efficiency
Efficient, High E Conver to UV
Damage/Rad/ Life Tests
Packaging
Lab Demo High Power Conversion to UV
Normal Mode Intra-cavity SHG Pump Laser
FY 02 FY 03 FY 04 FY 05 FY 06 FY 07
FY scale not exact
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LRRP Roadmap - GSFC
Define Reqmnts
Define Architecture/ Prel. Design
Stage I Fabrication/ Integration
E Design/Pack aging
Stage II Fabrication/ Integration
1 µm Laser What? How?
Compo- nent Dev.
D Test Set
Life Damage Rad Test
Freq. Control/ Con- version What? How?
ID Candidate Materials
Packaging
Scaling
Seeder Develop- ment
1J 100W 100W TBD micron
TBD mJ 50 Hz TBD W 1 micron
ATest Set Procure LDAs
Scaleup
Scaleup
Laser Diodes Supply? Life/Qual?
Life Test/Qual
A Radiation Test
C Clean/ Cont Protocols/ Flows
Innovative Technique
Conta- mination/ materials What? How
much? Control?
Develop Processes
C Establish How much/ what vs damage
Current Practice Survey
Thermal Control What? How?
Stage II Dev
Stage I Dev
B Scaling/ Innovative Techniques
FY02
FY03
FY06
FY05
FY04
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NASA Laser Risk Reduction Program

• Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL)
• Carbon Dioxide
• Ozone

Wavelength Conversion
Space Qualification
Pump Diodes
Laser Design

• Doppler Lidar
• Wind Fields
• River Flow

Heat Removal (All Conductive)
Laser Physics
OPO/OPA
Performance
Contamination
Materials
SHG/THG
Compact
Packaging
Modeling

• Backscatter Lidar
• Cloud
• Aerosol

Optics Damage (2G/3 yr)
Efficiency (Green30 UV20)
Coupling
Energy (1 J)/ Power (10-100W)
Lifetime (2G Shots)
Failure Mechanisms
Beam Quality
Efficiency (4 WPE)
Lifetime Effects
Beam Quality/ Spectrum
Availability (COTS)

• Altimeter Lidar
• Ice Sheet Mass and Topography
• Vegetation Canopy
• Land Topography
• Oceanography
• S/C-S/C Ranging

2-Micron Laser
NMP
1-Micron Laser
2007 Missions
2003
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LRRP Funding
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2-Micron Pulsed Transmitter Laser
Products
Personnel

• Dr. Jirong Yu
• Dr. Yingxin Bai
• Dr. Songsheng Chen
• Dr. Hyung Lee
• George Lockard
• Ed Modlin
• Keith Murray
• Mulugeta Petros
• Bo Trieu
• SWALES

FY03 Milestones
FY02 Accomplishments

• Evaluated techniques to couple laser diode pump
  light into 2-micron solid state laser crystal
• Completed versatile modular fully conductively
  cooled 2-micron solid state laser head design
• Completed partially conductive cooled laser head
  design and manufacture began testing
• 95 mJ, 10 Hz PCC LuLF demonstrated
• Demo 3-9 micron ZnGeP2 OPO

6/03 - Complete fabrication of fully conductive
cooled laser head 9/03 - Evaluate head assembly
and thermal management performance 9/03 -
Complete engineering hardened partially
conductive cooled laser head design
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Pump Laser Diode Advancement and Validation
Products
Personnel
Efficient, Reliable, High Power,
Conductively-Cooled Laser Diode Arrays suitable
for long lifetime space missions.

• Dr. Farzin Amzajerdian
• Ned Baker
• Thomas Gabany
• Dr. Carl Magee
• Byron Meadows
• Dr. Vikas Sudesh
• Industrial Partners

Laser Diode Array
FY03 Milestones
FY02 Accomplishments
3/03 - Complete assembly of laser diode
characterization facility 4/03 - Fabricate an
advanced laser diode array package 5/03 -
Develop thermal map/heat dissipation test
setup 9/03 - Complete lifetime test
automation 9/03 - Characterize 792 nm laser
diode arrays in standard A and G packages

• Initiated construction of laser diode
  characterization facility (LDCF)
• Initiated collaboration with GSFC and industry
• Completed LDCF
• Characterized 25 LDAs
• Fabricated 7 advanced LDAs

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UV Wavelength Conversion Technologies from 1
Micron
Products
Personnel

• Dr. Larry Petway
• Chris Edwards
• Matthew Turner
• Julie Williams-Byrd
• DOE Sandia National Laboratory

FY03 Milestones
2/03 - Optimize performance of modified
commercial NdYAG pump laser 3/03 - Demonstrate
highest possible depletion of pump beam energy in
RISTRA OPO 9/03 - Obtain maximum UV output at
320 nm using sum frequency mixing of OP output
and NdYAG laser 2nd harmonic. With a goal to
demonstrate 200 mJ at 320 nm with 1 micron to UV
efficiency of 15 to 20 at LaRC 9/03 - Obtain
maximum UV output at 320 nm using sum frequency
mixing of OP output and NdYAG laser 2nd
harmonic. With a goal to demonstrate 200 mJ at
320 nm with 1 micron to UV efficiency of 15 to
20 at Sandia
FY02 Accomplishments

• Reached 150 mJ of UV at 320 nm with 10 1 micron
  to UV efficiency reached 115 mJ at 308 nm (world
  records)
• Established UV collaboration with Sandia
  National Laboratory (DOE) trying for 200 mJ
  20 1-UV efficiency at 320 nm
• Developed plan to merge 2 novel technologies

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2-Micron Detector Development - Direct
Products
Personnel

• Dr. Nurul Abedin
• Dr. Tamer Refaat

FY03 Milestones
4/03 - Materials growth and substrate
preparation 7/03 - LPE epitaxial growth and
optimization 9/03 - Device design and
fabrication 9/03 - Carrier transport model for
the homojunction InGaSb-based avalanche
devices 12/03 - Analysis of the dark currents
and their dependence on temperature, electric
field and trap/defect density for the
homojunction InGaSb APD device
Conceptual Design of 2-Micron APD
FY02 Accomplishments

• Developed numerical model and verified with
  InGaAsSb photodetector experimental data
• Completed characterization of several IR detectors

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2-Micron Receiver Subsystem - Coherent
Products
Lightweight Scanning Lidar Telescope
Personnel
Integrated Heterodyne Photoreceiver

• Dr. Farzin Amzajerdian
• Jonathan Branson
• JPL
• MSFC
• Industrial Partners

Detectors, processing electronic, and
Semiconductor Local Oscillator Laser Integrated
on a Single Chip
Thermally-stable Telescope Using Metal Alloy
Shell Optics and Structure
FY03 Milestones
FY02 Accomplishments
3/03 - Complete design of an optimized
heterodyne photoreceiver based on measured
detector parameters 3/03 - Fabricate nickel
shell pathfinder flat mirrors 9/03 - Fabricate a
15-cm demonstrator mirror 9/03 - Fabricate
integrated fiber-coupled detector/amplifier based
on dual balanced detectors

• Completed fabrication of integrated
  detector/preamplifier
• Established in-house team for design,
  integration, and test
• Developed collaboration plan with JPL
• Produced first plasma sprayed nickel shell mirror
  test pieces

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Laser Physics, Quantum Mechanical Models, and
Advanced Materials Research
Products
Personnel
Develop a simple, line tunable laser system based
on diode pumped Nd laser technology for lidar
applications in the ultraviolet such as ozone and
sulphur dioxide. Develop a narrow spectral
bandwidth, long pulse length, low average power
pump laser for wavelength control of lidar
systems. Continuous laser systems require too
much power and short pulse laser systems have
timing issues.

• Dr. Norman Barnes
• Dr. Theresa Axenson
• Don Reichle
• Dr. Brian Walsh
• Boston College
• Industrial Partners

FY03 Milestones
FY02 Accomplishments
1/03 - Diode-pumped NdYAG ring oscillator 6/03
- Relaxation oscillation suppressed
oscillator 9/03 - Optimize second harmonic
generation 3/03 - Measure NdYAG efficiency on
feasible laser transitions 12/03 - Demonstrate
2-wavelength oscillation

• Quantum mechanical model improved and results
  presented at conference measured material
  spectra
• Demonstated tuning of pulsed NdYAG
• Designed, assembled, demonstrated dual wavelength
  laser
• Demonstrated laser wavelength mixing for ozone
  application

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Mobile Lidar Technologies Test Bed
Products
Personnel

• Dr. Grady Koch
• Bruce Barnes
• Dr. Jeffrey Beyon
• Joseph Goad, Jr.
• California State University
• University of Colorado

FY02 Accomplishments
FY03 Milestones
1/03 - Install refurbished 2-micron pulsed
laser 2/03 - Test SPARCLE telescope 4/03 -
First intercomparison 5/03 - Install and test
data acquisition system 9/03 - Field testing

• Vector wind profiles measured with mobile trailer
  lidar
• Best ever precision (5) of coherent DIAL CO2
  demonstrated

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Back Up Slides
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NASA Laser Risk Reduction Program
Clouds/Aerosols Tropospheric Winds Ozone Carbon
Dioxide Biomass Burning Water Vapor Surface
Mapping Laser Altimetry Oceanography
NASA Enterprises Needs
Earth Science
Aerospace Technology
Laser Technology
Space Science
HEDS
Mars Lander Guidance/Control
Atmospheric Sensing Automatic Rendezvous and
Docking for ISS
Wind profiling for shuttle launch and landing
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NASA Laser Risk Reduction Program
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NASA Laser Risk Reduction Program
Lidar Techniques

• Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL)
• Carbon Dioxide
• Ozone

• Doppler Lidar
• Wind Fields
• River Flow

• Backscatter Lidar
• Cloud
• Aerosol

• Altimeter Lidar
• Ice Sheet Mass and Topography
• Vegetation Canopy
• Land Topography
• Oceanography