A pulsed guide star laser can be the brightest

Nikita Simakov; Murray Hamilton; Peter J. Veitch; Jesper Munch

doi:10.1117/12.857002

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28 July 2010 A pulsed guide star laser can be the brightest

Nikita Simakov, Murray Hamilton, Peter J. Veitch, Jesper Munch

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Proceedings Volume 7736, Adaptive Optics Systems II; 77364Z (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.857002
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2010, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

We report on a numerical model and supporting experiments to show that a high peak power, pulse burst, Na guide-star waveform, suitable for use with adaptive optics systems requiring dynamic refocusing to avoid guide star elongation, is capable of producing a return comparable to conventional guide star laser of comparable output power. The predictions from our numerical model using coherent pumping by short, high peak power pulses, or so-called π-pulse pumping, indicate that very bright fluorescence returns can be achieved in this regime. This is supported by experimental results where fluorescence is observed in alkali atoms (cesium) using variable input power and pulse lengths. The model is used to predict very bright Na guide stars, using short pulses to excite most of the Na atoms available, followed by sufficient time to let them decay.

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Nikita Simakov, Murray Hamilton, Peter J. Veitch, and Jesper Munch "A pulsed guide star laser can be the brightest", Proc. SPIE 7736, Adaptive Optics Systems II, 77364Z (28 July 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.857002

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