CEDAR: An Operational CW Solid-State Laser System for Temperature and Wind Measurements in the Mesopause

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An existing sodium lidar, installed at Colorado State University, makes significant geophysical measurements of temperature profiles in the mesopause region. An important element of this transmitter is a stable, narrowband cw laser beam that seeds the high power pulsed dye amplifier. The present unit, consisting of an argon-ion laser and single-mode ring dye laser, has the versatility required of an exploratory system, but has excessive space, power and maintenance requirements. Thus, a compact, solid-state cw light source is being developed at the Desert Research Institute. The PI will modify this solid state light source into an operational, portable unit by (1) mounting it on a small optical breadboard with enclosure, making the mechanical and optical setup more rugged; (2) developing simple and fast tuning and locking procedure to stabilize the output wavelength to Doppler free features of the sodium spectrum; and (3) testing and using the system in conjunction with the existing sodium lidar at CSU.