The Agile Waveform, Spectrally Optimized, Midwave (AWSOM) laser system has been designed to meet the Navys needs for a compact and reliable high-power laser source in the midwave infrared (MWIR) spectral region. The pump laser is a high-power thulium-doped fiber (Tm:fiber) amplifier. Operation around two microns is required for parametric down-conversion to the MWIR bands of interest at high efficiency. The objective is to develop and demonstrate a Tm:fiber amplifier with a 200 W average power and sufficient peak power to drive nonlinear conversion processes that generate mid-infrared output. In addition, the Tm:fiber pump laser is designed with novel wavelength diversity that translates to mid-infrared output wavelengths through the freqeuency conversion process while remaining sufficiently spectrally narrow so that the MWIR emission fits within narrow atmospheric transmission bands. A net optical conversion efficiency of 50% from pump to MWIR is anticipated, resulting in >100 W of MWIR power for ~200 W of pump. This staging, coupled with the high efficiency of the Tm:fiber pump laser, support an architecture with >10% wall-plug efficiency and conformal packaging for small (
Benefit: Fiberteks main line of business is research and development leading to advanced electro-optical systems, including lasers and LIDARs, primarily for DoD and NASA customers as well as various aerospace prime contractors. The AWSOM laser system developed under this SBIR program will directly support Fiberteks core business and, if successful, will offer government and industrial customers access to a high-power, multi-wavelength, MWIR source that is not currently available commercially. In addition to the Navy, other services and aerospace industry leads are expected to be customers for agile waveform MWIR laser sources. The technology can be scaled in power or wavelength depending on application. As the source maintains a modest peak-to-average power ratio, active sensing applications may be enabled, including covert comms with complex temporal coding or active imaging, with the potential to achieve multiple functions in the 2 5 micron window from a single transmit aperture. With the facilities described below, Fibertek is ideally suited to produce prototype and low-rate production systems for ground and airborne environments. Fibertek also has strong relationships with several DoD and commercial full-scale production companies and is amenable to licensing technology when production rates exceeding Fiberteks capability are required.
Keywords: thulium fiber laser, thulium fiber laser, Optical Parametric Amplification, OPGaAs, High Power Lasers, nonlinear optics, Midwave Lasers
