Watt level laser source for a polychromatic laser guide stars: double resonant fluorescence from 3S1/2-3P3/2-3D5/2 transition of sodium atoms.

Abstract

The polychromatic laser guide star (PLGS) is one of the solutions proposed to measure the differential atmospheric tip-tilt. A watts-level microsecond pulse all solid state laser source with two wavelengths at 589 and 819.7 nm are developed to perform a proof-of-concept on-sky test for what is believed to be the first time. By sum-frequency of 1319 and 1064 nm, a 44 W maximum average output power at 589.159 nm is generated with the pulse width of ~90 μs at 500 Hz, the linewidth of 0.46 pm, and the beam quality of M2 = 1.50. Meanwhile, a 2.4 W average output power is achieved operating at 819.710 nm with the pulse width of ~25 μs at 500 Hz, the linewidth of 0.8 pm, and beam quality factor of M2 = 1.20, which is end-pumped by a frequency-doubled 1064 nm Nd:YAG laser. Moreover, double resonant fluorescence in sodium cell with two step excitation of sodium atom from 3S1/2 to 3D5/2 via 3P3/2 level is observed clearly by tuning the wavelength of 589 and 819.7 nm beams. In the proof-of-principle experiment, it is preliminarily verified that this laser system is expected to be applied to the sky experiment.