Pulse laser imaging amplifier for advanced Ladar systems

Anatoliy Khizhnyak; Vladimir Markov; Ivan Tomov; David Murrell

doi:10.1117/1.OE.56.3.031218

21 December 2016 Pulse laser imaging amplifier for advanced Ladar systems

Anatoliy Khizhnyak, Vladimir Markov, Ivan Tomov, David Murrell

Author Affiliations +

Optical Engineering, Vol. 56, Issue 3, 031218 (December 2016). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.OE.56.3.031218

Abstract

Coherent image amplification is an important and difficult task that has a wide range of applications including surveillance, detection, and imaging of biological species. Earlier approaches to achieve a high-gain low-noise coherent amplification were met with little success in regards to gain and image quality. These methods included direct coherent beam propagation through the gain medium with inverted population levels as well as two- and four-beam coupling. This paper discusses a high-gain intracavity laser image amplifier. The approach enables time synchronization of the incoming and amplifying signals with an accuracy ≤1 ns. Matching the spectrum of the incoming signal to the cavity modes is no longer necessary with this method and is an essential advantage of the amplifier. Instead, the incoming signal is accepted within the spectral band of the amplifier’s gain material. We have gauged experimentally the performance of the amplifier with a 30-dB gain and an angle of view up to 30 mrad.

Citation Download Citation

Anatoliy Khizhnyak, Vladimir Markov, Ivan Tomov, and David Murrell "Pulse laser imaging amplifier for advanced Ladar systems," Optical Engineering 56(3), 031218 (21 December 2016). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.OE.56.3.031218

Received: 29 July 2016; Accepted: 28 November 2016; Published: 21 December 2016

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