Abstract

The proposed use of an e-beam sustained CO₂ laser as a source for spaceborne Doppler wind lidar applications has many potential advantages. These include high efficiency, low CO₂ dissociation and a top-hat pulse shape with an optimum pulse length. Despite these obvious advantages, the use of e-beam sustained technology has an area of potential risk from a deployment standpoint. This results from the necessity to use a thin metal foil as an interface between the electron gun and laser The foil can become fatigued with repeated laser pulsing and the foil can then break, resulting in a failure of the entire laser.

© 1991 Optical Society of America