A novel Ho:LuLF transmitter operating in an atmospheric transmission window at 2052.92 nm with significant advantages over previous transmitters is described. The transmitter utilizes a low-gain, very-compact oscillator to create long-duration pulses needed for atmospheric wind measurements followed by a very-high-gain amplifier. Both the oscillator and the amplifier are in-band pumped near 1.94 µm using a single Tm:fiber laser. The transmitter (oscillator + amplifier) produces 60 mJ 420 ns pulses at 400 Hz and has a prime power efficiency of 7.4%. The pulses are near-transform- and near-diffraction-limited and stabilize in <15 s after pump power is applied. The entire transmitter optical head, less the external fiber-coupled Tm:fiber pump laser, is very compact, and is currently being ruggedly packaged into an ~ 1.2 liter volume. This rugged and compact transmitter when coupled with an ~ 1-meter-diameter telescope is suitable for wind measurements from space.
Diamond et al. (Thu,) studied this question.