Wavelength Agile, Narrow-Linewidth, Nanosecond, 4 mJ, Hybrid Yb3+ Fiber/Bulk 1030 nm Laser for LIDAR Applications

Lidar instruments sensitivity strongly rely on laser performances. For atmospheric applications, the emitter specifications depend on the targeted observation. Wind lidars require high energy, with a linewidth compatible with wind speed assessment by heterodyne detection. Trace gas detection by the differential absorption method (DIAL) moreover relies on the emission of very specific wavelength in the near/mid-IR, in line with the absorption lines of the targeted species, which can be obtained by 1 μm lasers followed by frequency conversion stages in optical parametric oscillators and amplifiers [1]. In such a context, developing new narrow-linewidth, mJ level 1 μm lasers remains a topic of high interest for atmospheric lidars. In a previous work [2], we thus proposed a tunable Yb³⁺ hybrid fiber/solid-state amplifier architecture, to benefit from both the robustness of fiber systems and wavelength agility, and the high output energy achievable using solid-state free space amplifiers. Here we present our latest results, which allowed us to demonstrate a 12 ns FT-limited, 4 mJ, 20 kHz, hybrid fiber/bulk laser at 1030 nm, corresponding to an improvement by a factor of 4.5 of the average power from our previous work. Such a laser can be a pump of choice for OPO/OPAs, which could also benefit from its rapid tunability over 10 GHz, leading to an easy gas line probing by the DIAL technique when combined with Backward OPO [3].