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25 records · Page 2

Development of an automated diode-laser-based multicomponent gas sensor

The implementation and application of a portable fiber-coupled trace-gas sensor for the detection of several trace gases, including CO2, CH4, and H2CO, are reported. This particular sensor is based on a cw fiber-amplified near-infrared (distributed Bragg reflector) diode laser and an external cavity diode laser that are frequency converted in a periodically poled lithium niobate crystal to the mid-IR spectroscopic fingerprint region (3.3-4.4 micrometers). A continuous absorption spectrum of CH4 and H2CO from 3.37 to 3.10 micrometers with a spectral resolution of 40 MHz (approximately 0.0013 cm-1) demonstrated the spectral performance that can be achieved by means of automated wavelength tuning and phase matching with stepper motor control. Autonomous long-term detection of ambient CO2 and CH4 over a 3- and 7-day period was also demonstrated.

NASA Discipline Environmental Health↗

Portable fiber-coupled diode-laser-based sensor for multiple trace gas detection

Tunable narrowband mid-infrared radiation from 3.25 to 4.4 micrometers is generated by a compact fiber-coupled, difference-frequency-based spectroscopic source. A 20-mW external cavity diode laser (with a tuning range from 814 to 870 nm) and a 50-mW distributed-Bragg-reflector diode-laser-seeded ytterbium-doped fiber amplifier operating at 1083 nm are difference-frequency mixed in a multi-grating, temperature-controlled periodically poled LiNbO3 crystal. A conversion efficiency of 0.44 mW/(W2cm) (corresponding to a power of approximately equal to 3 microW at 3.3 micrometers) represents the highest conversion efficiency reported for a portable device. Performance characteristics of such a sensor and its application to spectroscopic detection of CO2, N2O, H2CO, HCl, NO2, and CH4 will be reported in this work.

Non-NASA Center↗

Narrow linewidth single-mode semiconductor laser development for coherent detection lidar

High power, tunable, single mode, narrow linewidth semiconductor lasers in the 2.05-(micro)m wavelength region are needed to develop semiconductor laser reference oscillators for optical remote sensing from Earth orbit. 2.05-I1/4m narrow linewidth monolithic distributed feedback (DFB) and distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) with the external grating ridge waveguide lasers fabricated from epitaxially grown InGaAs/InGaAsP/InP and in InGaAsSb/AlGaAsSb/GaSb heterostructures are reported.

single mode↗

Diode laser array

A diode laser array comprises a substrate of a semiconductor material having first and second opposed surfaces. On the first surface is a plurality of spaced gain sections and a separate distributed Bragg reflector passive waveguide at each end of each gain section and optically connecting the gain sections. Each gain section includes a cavity therein wherein charge carriers are generated and recombine to generate light which is confined in the cavity. Also, the cavity, which is preferably a quantum well cavity, provides both a high differential gain and potentially large depth of loss modulation. Each waveguide has a wavelength which is preferably formed by an extension of the cavity of the gain sections and a grating. The grating has a period which provides a selective feedback of light into the gain sections to supporting lasing, which allows some of the light to be emitted from the waveguide normal to the surface of the substrate and which allows optical coupling of the gain sections. Also, the grating period provides an operating wavelength which is on the short wavelength side of the gain period of the gain sections required for laser oscillation. An RF pulse is applied so as to maximize the magnitude of the loss modulation and the differential gain in the gain sections. The array is operated by applying a DC bias to all the gain sections at a level just below the threshold of the gain sections to only one of the gain sections which raises the bias in all of the gain sections to a level that causes all of the gain sections to oscillate. Thus, a small bias can turn the array on and off.

Carlson, Nils W.↗

Precision and Fast Wavelength Tuning of a Dynamically Phase-Locked Widely-Tunable Laser

We report a precision and fast wavelength tuning technique demonstrated for a digital-supermode distributed Bragg reflector laser. The laser was dynamically offset-locked to a frequency-stabilized master laser using an optical phase-locked loop, enabling precision fast tuning to and from any frequencies within a ~40-GHz tuning range. The offset frequency noise was suppressed to the statically offset-locked level in less than ~40 s upon each frequency switch, allowing the laser to retain the absolute frequency stability of the master laser. This technique satisfies stringent requirements for gas sensing lidars and enables other applications that require such well-controlled precision fast tuning.

Numata, Kenji↗

Tunable Mid-wave Infrared Fabry-Perot Bandpass Filters Using Phase-Change GeSbTe

Tunable mid-wave infrared (MWIR) filters are highly desirable in a wide variety of imaging and sensing, as the MWIR contains numerous spectral signatures. We fabricated spectrally-tunable Fabry-Perot bandpass filters operating across the MWIR by utilizing the phase-change material GeSbTe (GST) as a tunable cavity medium between distributed Bragg reflectors. The induced refractive index modulation of the GST increases the cavity’s optical path length, tuning the passband. Our filters have 300-nm spectral tunability, 60-75% transmission efficiencies, and 50-65 nm narrowband FWHMs (Q-factor 70-90). We demonstrate multispectral thermal imaging and dynamic gas sensing by matching the filter’s passband (~ 4.25μm) to a CO2 vibrational-absorption mode.

Tunable filter↗

Microscope Would Image X and Gamma Rays

Microscope contains Bragg-reflecting, grazing-incidence reflectors, filter wheel, and detector. Multiple nested coaxial pairs of reflectors used to form images simultaneously at multiple wavelengths. Collects and focuses radiation to produce images with moderate spectral resolution and high spatial resolution. Enables use of smaller, cheaper, better-shielded detectors. Combination of features provides new information of unprecedented value in several fields of research; probing fine structures of pulsed plasmas, investigating minute variations in structures of material specimens penetrated only by hard-x or gamma rays, or in producing maps of distributions of radioisotopes in biological specimens.

Hoover, Richard B.↗