The Air Force vision for Global Virtual Presence suggests a need for active remote sensing systems that provide both global coverage and the ability to detect multiple gaseous chemical species at low concentration from a significant standoff distance. The system will need to have acceptable weight, volume, and power characteristics, as well as a long operating lifetime for integration with various surveillance platforms. Laser based remote sensing systems utilizing the differential absorption lidar (DIAL) technique are promising for long range chemical sensing applications. Recent advancements in pulsed, diode pumped solid state laser (DPSSL) technology and in tunable optical parametric oscillators (OPO) make broadly tunable laser transmitters possible for the DIAL system. Also the characteristic narrow spectral bandwidth of these laser devices provides high measurement sensitivity and spectral selectivity with the potential to avoid interfering species. Rocketdyne has built and tested a tunable, midwave infrared (MWIR) DIAL system using DPSSL/OPO technology. The key to the system is a novel tuning and line narrowing technology developed for the OPO. The tuning system can quickly adjust to the desired wavelength and precisely locate a narrow spectral feature of interest. Once the spectral feature is located, a rapid dither tuning technique is employed. The laser pulses are tuned “on” and “off” the spectral resonance of a molecule with precise and repeatable performance as required to make the DIAL measurement. To date, the breadboard system has been tested by measuring methane, ethane, and sulfur dioxide in a calibrated gas cell at a range of 60 meters.
A tunable MWIR laser remote sensor for chemical vapor detection
Space technology and applications international forum - 1998 ; 1998 ; Albuquerque,New Mexico (USA)
AIP Conference Proceedings ; 420 , 1 ; 21-26
1998-01-15
6 pages
Conference paper
Electronic Resource
English
A Tunable MWIR Laser Remote Sensor for Chemical Vapor Detection
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