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High Speed Acousto-Optic Tuner for CO2 Laser Wavelength Control--Physical Optics Corporation, 20600 Gramercy Place, Building 100, Torrance, CA 90501-1821; 310-320-3088
Dr. Paul Shnitser, Principal Investigator
Mr. Gordon Drew, Business Official
DOE Grant No. DE-FG03-98ER82638
Amount: $749,995
The U.S. Department of Energy requires new technologies to improve the monitoring of nonproliferation treaties and environmental contamination as well as the control of weapons production. This project will develop a germanium acousto-optic cell (GAOC) tuner that has the potential to increase the overall measurement accuracy of the Differential Absorption LIDAR (DIAL) systems currently used for such monitoring. Existing devices do not provide the required accuracy because either the spectral resolution is too low, the tuning speeds are insufficient, or the repetition rate is too low. The GAOC device will rapidly and efficiently tune laser wavelengths, enabling DIAL systems to improve resolution by a factor of two. Phase I designed and fabricated all preliminary components and integrated them into a a working model of the GAOC tuner. A special laboratory set-up showed that the device permitted laser wavelength to be resolved with an accuracy twice that of existing commercially-available products, but without the sacrifice of any other performance parameters. Phase II will focus on the development a full prototype of the GAOC tuner and its implementation in the DIAL systems. This will include optimizing optical designs and components of the GAOC tuner and implementing high-precision lithography for the fabrication of its key electronic element.
Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: The GAOC technology should provide effective instruments for environmental monitoring, drug control, and disaster assessment. It should also provide a foundation for new generations of infrared (IR) remote sensors and monitoring instrumentation, as well as spawn the development of new tunable IR lasers for a broad range of environmental, industrial, and medical applications.