钠信标激光技术进展

摘要/Abstract

摘要： 地基光学望远镜对天观测时, 大气湍流扰动引起星光波前畸变将导致其实际分辨率远低于物理极限, 这是急需解决的科学技术问题。采用钠信标激光激发海拔80∼105 km 大气电离层中的钠原子可产生高亮度的钠导引星, 可作为信标探测大气对光波的扰动, 再利用自适应光学技术进行校正, 能使望远镜克服大气扰动影响, 获得近衍射极限的分辨率。介绍了钠信标激光的特性与国内外研究进展, 尤其是中国科学院理化技术研究所激光物理与技术研究中心研制的钠D2 线双峰谱型匹配的微秒脉冲钠信标激光器及其在大型望远镜上的应用情况。

关键词: 自适应光学, 钠信标激光, 微秒脉冲激光, 钠导引星

Abstract: The spatial resolution of the large ground-based optical telescope is far below its diffraction limitation because atmospheric turbulence distorts light waves from the observed space objects, which is a critical scientific and technological problem to be solved urgently. Using sodium beacon laser to excite sodium atoms in the upper atmosphere at an altitude of 80∼105 km can create a high brightness sodium guide star, which can be used as a beacon to detect the wavefront aberration caused by atmospheric turbulence. As the wavefront aberration can be corrected by using adaptive optics system, the imaging resolution of large ground-based telescope will be significantly improved to be near its diffraction limitation. The development of sodium beacon laser is described in detail, especially the micro-second pulse sodium beacon laser with spectral format matched to the mesospheric D2 line developed in Research Center for Laser Physics and Technique, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, as well as its successful application in some large ground-based optical telescopes.

Key words: adaptive optics, sodium beacon laser, microsecond pulsed laser, sodium laser guide star

中图分类号:

TN248

薄勇, 卞奇, 彭钦军, 许祖彦, 魏凯, 张雨东, 冯麓, 薛随建. 钠信标激光技术进展[J]. 量子电子学报, 2020, 37(4): 430-446.

BO Yong, BIAN Qi, PENG Qinjun, XU Zuyan, WEI Kai, ZHANG Yudong, FENG Lu, XUE Suijian. Development of Sodium Beacon Laser[J]. Chinese Journal of Quantum Electronics, 2020, 37(4): 430-446.

参考文献 78

[1]	Babcock HW. The possibility of compensating astronomical seeing [J]. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific,
19	53, 65(386): 229-236.
[2]	Hardy J W. Active optics: A new technology for the control of light [C]. Proceedings of the IEEE, 1978, 66 (6): 651-697.
[3]	Foy R, Labeyrie A. Feasibility of adaptive telescope with laser probe [J]. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 1985, 152: L29-L31.
[4]	Primmerman C A, Murphy D V, Page D A, et al. Compensation of atmospheric optical distortion using a synthetic beacon [J].
	Nature, 1991, 353 (6340): 141-143.
[5]	Fugate R Q, Fried D L, Ameer G A, et al. Measurement of atmospheric wavefront distortion using scattered light from a laser
	guide-star [J]. Nature, 1991, 353 (6340): 144-146.
[6]	Thompson L A, Gardner C S. Experiments on laser guidestars at Mauna Kea Observatory for adaptive imaging in astronomy
[J]	Nature, 1987, 328: 229-231.
[7]	Humphreys R A, Primmerman C A, Bradley L C, et al. Atmospheric-turbulence measurements using a synthetic beacon in the
	mesospheric sodium layer [J]. Optics Letters, 1991, 16 (18): 1367-1369.
[8]	Dekany R, Velur V, Petrie H, et al. Laser guide star adaptive optics on the 5.1 meter telescope at Palomar observatory [C].
	AMOS Technical conference Proceedings, 2005.
[9]	Bonaccini D, Allaert E, Araujo C, et al. The VLT laser guide star facility [C]. Proceedings of SPIE, 2003, 105: 381-392.
[10]	MignantD L, Campbell R D, Bouchez A H, et al. LGS AO operations at the W. M. Keck Observatory [C]. Proceedings of
	SPIE, 2006, 6270: 6270C-1.
[11]	Ellerbroek B, Adkins S, Andersen D, et al. Progress towards developing the TMT adaptive optical systems and their components
[C]	Proceedings of SPIE, 2008, 7015: 70150R/1-70150R/11.
[12]	Bian Q, Bo Y, Zuo J W, et al. Investigation of return photons from sodium laser beacon excited by a 40-watt facility-class
	pulsed laser for adaptive optical telescope applications [J]. Scientific Reports, 2018, 8 (9222): 1-10.
[13]	Milonni P W, Fearn H, Telle J M, et al. Theory of continuous wave excitation of the sodium beacon [J]. Journal of the Optical
	Society of America A, 1999, 16 (10): 2555-2566.
[14]	Holzlohner R, Rochester S M, Calia D B, et al. Optimization of CW sodium laser guide star efficiency [J]. Astronomy and
	Astrophysics, 2009, 510 (4-6361): 1109-1115.
[15]	Fan T W, Zhou T H, Feng Y. Improving sodium laser guide star brightness by polarization switching [J]. Scientific Reports,
20	16, 6 (1): 19859.
[16]	Ge J, Jacobsen B P, Angel J R P, et al. Simultaneous measurements of sodium column density and laser guide star brightness
[C]	Proceedings of SPIE, 1998, 3353: 242.
[17]	Jennifer E R, Antonin H B, John A, et al. Facilitizing the palomar AO laser guide star system [C]. Proceedings of SPIE, 2008,
70	15: 70152S-1.
[18]	Jian G, Jacobsena B P, Angel J R P, et al. Simultaneous measurements of sodium column density and laser guide star brightness
[C]	Proceedings of SPIE, 1998, 3353: 242.
[19]	Wang L Q, OtarolaA, Ellerbroek B. Impact of sodium laser guide star fratricide on multi-conjugate adaptive optics systems [J].
	Journal of the Optical Society of America A, 2010, 27 (11): A19.
[20]	Rochester S M, Otarola A, Boyer C, et al. Modeling of pulsed laser guide stars for the thirty meter telescope project [J]. Journal
	of the Optical Society of America B, 2012, 29 (8): 2176.
[21]	Rampy R, Gavel D, Rochester S M, et al. Toward optimization of pulsed sodium laser guide stars [J]. Journal of the Optical
	Society of America B, 2015, 32 (12): 2425-2434.
[22]	Avicola K, Brase J M, Morris J R, et al. Sodium laser guide star system at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory: System
	description and experimental results [C]. Proceedings of SPIE, 1994, 2201: 326-341.
[23]	Max C E, Gavel D T, Olivier S S, et al. Issues in the design and optimization of adaptive optics and laser guide stars for the
	Keck telescopes [C]. Proceedings of SPIE, 1994, 2201: 189.
[24]	Friedman H W, Erbert G V, Kuklo T C, et al. Sodium beacon laser system for the Lick Observatory [C]. Proceedings of SPIE,
19	95, 2534: 150.
[25]	Quirrenbach A, Hackenberg W, Holstenberg H, et al. The sodium laser guide starsystem of ALFA [C]. Proceedings of SPIE,
19	97, 3126: 35-43.
[26]	Rabien S, Davies R I, Hackenberg W K P, et al. Beam quality and polarization analysis of the ALFA laser at Calar Alto and
	the influence on brightness and size of the laser guide star [C]. Proceedings of SPIE, 1999, 3762: 368.
[27]	Butler D J, Davies R I, Fews H, et al. Calar Alto ALFA and the sodium laser guide star in astronomy [C]. Proceedings of SPIE,
19	99, 3762: 184.
[28]	Davies R I, Ott T, Li J, et al. Operational issues for PARSEC, the VLT laser [C]. Proceedings of SPIE, 2003, 4839: 402.
[29]	Bonaccini D, Allaert E, Araujo C, et al. The VLT laser guide star facility [C]. Proceedings of SPIE, 2003, 4839: 381-392.
[30]	Rabien S, Davies R I, Ott T, et al. Test performance of the PARSEC laser system [C]. Proceedings of SPIE, 2004, 5490: 981.
[31]	Pennington D M, Dawson JW, Drobshoff A, et al. Compact fiber laser for 589 nm laser guide stars generation [C]. Conference
	on Lasers and Eletro-Optics Europe, 2005.
[32]	Dawson J W, Drobshoff A D, Beach R J, et al. Multi-watt 589 nm fiber laser source [C]. Proceedings of SPIE, 2006, 6102:
61	021F.
[33]	Georgiev D, Gapontsev V P, Dronov A G , et al. Watts-level frequency doubling of a narrow line linearly polarized Raman
	fiber laser to 589 nm [J]. Optics Express, 2005, 13 (18): 6772.
[34]	Dupriez P, Farrell C, Ibsen M, et al. 1Waverage power at 589 nm from a frequency doubled pulsed Raman fiber MOPA system
[C]	Lasers & Applications in Science & Engineering, International Society for Optics and Photonics, 2006, 6102: 61021G-1.
[35]	Olausson C B T, Shirakawa A, Maurayama H, et al. Power-scalable long-wavelength Yb-doped photonic bandgap fiber sources
[C]	Proceedingsof SPIE, 2010, 7580 (6): 758013-1.
[36]	Surin A A, Larin S V. 14 W SHG in MgO:sPPLT at 589 nm from high power CW linearly polarized RFL [C]. International
	Conference Laser Optics, 2014.
[37]	Taylor L, Feng Y, Calia D B. High power narrowband 589 nm frequency doubled fibre laser source [J]. Optics Express, 2009,
17	(17): 14687-14693.
[38]	Feng Y, Taylor L R, Calia D B. 25 W Raman-fiber-amplifier-based 589 nm laser for laser guide star [J]. Optics Express, 2009,
17	(21): 19021-19026.
[39]	Taylor L R, Feng Y, Calia D B. 50 W CW visible laser source at 589 nm obtained via frequency doubling of three coherently
	combined narrow-band Raman fibre amplifiers [J]. Optics Express, 2010, 18 (8): 8540-8555.
[40]	Calia D B, Kaenders W. First light for ESO’s four laser guide star facility [J]. Optics and Photonics News, 2016, 27: 18.
[41]	Zhang L, Jiang H, Cui S, et al. Over 50W589 nm single frequency laser by frequency doubling of single Raman fiber amplifier
[C]	CLEO: Science and Innovations, 2014.
[42]	Zhang L, Jiang H W, Cui S Z, et al. Versatile Raman fiber laser for sodium laser guide star [J]. Laser & Photonics Reviews,
20	15, 8 (6): 889-895.
[43]	Yang X Z, Zhang L, Cui S Z, et al. Sodium guide star laser pulsed at Larmor frequency [J]. Optics Letters, 2017, 42 (21):
43	51-4354.
[44]	Moosmuller H, Vance J D. Sum-frequency generation of continuous-wave sodium D2 resonance radiation [J]. Optics Letters,
19	97, 22 (15): 1135-1137.
[45]	Vance J D, She C Y, Moosmüller H. Continuous-wave, all-solid-state, single-frequency 400 mW source at 589 nm based on
	doubly resonant sum-frequency mixing in a monolithic lithium niobate resonator [J]. Applied Optics, 1998, 37 (21): 4891-4896.
[46]	Bienfang J C, Denman C A, Grime B W, et al. 20 W of continuous-wave sodium D2 resonance radiation from sum-frequency
	generation with injection-locked lasers [J]. Optics Letters, 2003, 28 (22): 2219.
[47]	Bienfang J C, Denman C A, Grime B W, et al. 20 watt CW all-solid-state 589 nm sodium beacon excitation source based on
	doubly resonant sum-frequency generation in LBO [C]. Proceedings of SPIE, 2004.
[48]	Denman C A, Hillman P D, Moore G T, et al. 20WCW 589 nm sodium beacon excitation source for adaptive optical telescope
	applications [J]. Optical Materials, 2004, 26 (4): 507-513.
[49]	Denman C A, Moore G T, Drummond J D, et al. 50 W CW single frequency 589 nm FASOR [C]. Proceedings of SPIE, 2005.
[50]	Denman C A, Hillman P D, Moore G T, et al. Realization of a 50 watt facility-class sodium guidestar pump laser [C]. Solid
	State Lasers XIV: Technology and Devices, International Society for Optics and Photonics, 2005, 5707: 46.
[51]	Denman C A, Hillman P D, Moore G T. The starfire optical range sodium guidestar FASOR [C]. Proceedings of the 21st
	Annual Solid State and Diode Technology Review, 2008.
[52]	Saito N, Akagawa K, Hayano Y, et al. 589 nm generation by sum-frequency mixing of mode-locked 1064 nm and 1319 nm
	pulses in periodically poled KTP [C]. Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics, 2004.
[53]	Hayano Y, Saito Y, Saito N, et al. Design of laser system for Subaru LGS AO [C]. Advancements in Adaptive Optics, International
	Society for Optics and Photonics, 2004.
[54]	Saito N, Akagawa K, Hayano Y, et al. Synchronization of 1064 and 1319 nm pulses emitted from actively mode-locked
	Nd:YAG lasers and its application to 589 nm sumfrequencygeneration [J]. Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Part 2, 2005,
44	: L1484-L1487.
[55]	Saito N, Akagawa K, Hayano Y, et al. 1 W 589 nm coherent light-source achieved by quasi-intracavity sum-frequency generation
[C]	Proceedings of SPIE, 2005, 98: 457-461.
[56]	Saito Y, Hayano Y, Saito N, et al. 589 nm sum-frequency generation laser for the LGS/AO of Subaru Telescope [C]. Proceedings
	of SPIE, 2006.
[57]	Saito N, Akagawa K, Kato M, et al. Development of all-solid-state coherent 589 nm light source: Toward the realization of
	sodium lidar and laser guide star adaptive optics [C]. Proceedings of SPIE, 2006, 6409: 64091H-1.
[58]	Saito N, Akagawa K, Ito M, et al. Sodium D2 resonance radiation in single-pass sum-frequency generation with actively
	mode-locked Nd:YAG lasers [J]. Optics Letters, 2007, 32(14): 1965.
[59]	Takami H, Colley S, Dinkins M, et al. Status of Subaru laser guide star AO system [C]. Proceedings of SPIE, 2006, 6272:
62	720C1.
[60]	Hankla A K, Bartholomew J, Groff K, et al. 20 W and 50 W solid-state sodium beacon guidestar laser systems for the Keck I
	and Gemini South Telescopes [C]. Proceedings of SPIE, 2006, 6272: 62721G1.
[61]	Lee I, Jalali M, Vanasse N, et al. 20 W and 50 W guidestar laser system update for the Keck I and Gemini South telescopes
[C]	Proceedings of SPIE, 2008, 7015: 70150N1.
[62]	Sawruk N, Lee I, Jalali M, et al. System overview of 30 W and 55 W sodium guide star laser systems [C]. Proceedings of
	SPIE, 2010, 7736: 77361Y1.
[63]	d’Orgeville C, Diggs S, Fesquet V, et al. Gemini South multi-conjugate adaptive optics (GeMS) laser guide star facility on-sky
	performance results [C]. Proceedings of SPIE, 2012, 8447: 84471Q-1.
[64]	Jeys T H. Development of amesospheric sodium laser beacon for atmospheric adaptive optics [J]. The Lincoln Laboratory
	Journal, 1991, 4 (2): 133-150.
[65]	Kibblewhite E J, Shi F, Bonaccini D, et al. Design and field tests of an 8 W sum-frequency laser for adaptive optics [C].
	Proceedings of SPIE, 1998, 3353: 300-309.
[66]	Velur V, Kibblewhite E J, Dekany R G, et al. Implementation of the Chicago sum frequency laser at Palomar laser guide star
	test bed [C]. Proceedings of SPIE, 2004, 5490: 1033.
[67]	Roberts J E, Bouchez A H, Angione J, et al. Facilitizing the Palomar AO laser guide star system [C]. International Society for
	Optics and Photonics, 2008, 7015: 70152S-1.
[68]	Lu YF, Bo Y, Xie S Y, et al. An 8.1 W diode pumped solid-state quasi-continuous-wave yellow laser at 589 nm by intracavity
	sum-frequency mixing generation [J]. Optics Communications, 2008, 281: 5596.
[69]	Wang P Y, Xie S Y, Bo Y, et al. 33 W quasi-continuous-wave narrow-band sodium D2a laser by sum-frequency generation in
	LBO [J]. Chinese Physics B, 2014, 23(9): 094208.
[70]	Wei K, Bo Y, Xue X H, et al. Photon returns test of the pulsed sodium guide star laser on the 1.8 meter telescope [C].
	Proceedings of SPIE, 2013, 8447: 84471R-1.
[71]	Bian Q, Bo Y, Zuo J W, et al. High-power QCW microsecond-pulse solid-state sodium beacon laser with spiking suppression
	and D2b re-pumping [J]. Optics Letters, 2016, 41(8): 1732-1735.
[72]	Lu Y H, Fan G B, Ren H J, et al. High-average-power narrow-line-width sum frequency generation 589 nm laser [C]. Proceedings
	of SPIE, 2015, 9650: 965008-1.
[73]	Lu Y H, Zhang L, Xu X F, et al. Tunable-line-width all-solid-state double-spectral-line sodium beacon laser [C]. Proceedings
	of SPIE, 2017, 10436: 1043605.
[74]	Gerster E, Hahn C, Lorch S, et al. Frequency-doubled GaAsSb/GaAs semiconductor disk laser emitting at 589 nm [C]. Conference
	Proceedings Laser 82 Electro Optics, 2003.
[75]	Fallahi M, Fan L, Kaneda Y, et al. 5 W yellow laser by intracavity frequency doubling of high-power vertical-external-cavity
	surface-emitting laser [J]. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, 2008, 20 (20): 1700-1702.
[76]	Hessenius C, Lukowski M, Moloney J, et al. Tunable single-frequency yellow laser for sodium guidestar applications [C].
	SPIE Newsroom, 2012.
[77]	Leinonen T, H¨ark¨onen A, Korpij¨arvi VM, et al. High-power narrow-linewidth optically pumped dilute nitride disk laser with
	emission at 589 nm [C]. Proceedings of SPIE, 2010, 7720 (2): 772016.
[78]	Kantola E, Leinonen T, Ranta S, et al. High-efficiency 20 W yellow VECSEL [J]. Optics Express, 2014, 22 (6): 6372-6380.