FIBERTEK, INC. — National Aeronautics and Space Administration SBIR Phase I: S1.01

FIBERTEK, INC. — SBIR Phase I award from National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Amount
$124,753
Agency
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Program / Phase
SBIR · Phase I
Topic
S1.01
NAICS
Place of performance
VA
Period
2015-06-17 → 2015-12-17

Description

Fibertek, Inc. proposes to develop a novel laser source designed to meet the needs of planned space-based atmospheric water-vapor (WV) differential absorption lidar (DIAL) instruments. Our approach is based on frequency doubling the output wavelength of efficient near-infrared (NIR) solid-state laser materials doped with rare earth ions that can be efficiently pumped by high-brightness semiconductor laser diodes. In our Phase I program we will also demonstrate a novel resonator, designed to reduce the pulse width and increase the extraction efficiency on low-gain, three-level laser transitions. Our proposed innovation has the potential for improving the operating efficiency of water-vapor DIAL laser transmitters by about a factor of two compared to current lasers.