Abstract

Progress at Stanford University in the development of a LIDAR operating at one micron in a master oscillator power amplifier configuration required a reasonably stable, narrow linewidth laser oscillator. The required stability was achieved by the development of a non-planar Nd:YAG ring oscillator pumped by a ten-stripe diode laser array. Ten kilohertz linewidths are typical for this 300 THz oscillator. The Schawlow-Townes linewidth limit for this laser oscillator is predicted to be 1Hz per milliwatt output. A first time measurement of this linewidth limit for a laser oscillator operating at 300 THz is the objective of a proposed free-flying space experiment.

© 1987 Optical Society of America