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Qualification of Laser Diode Arrays for Mercury Laser Altimeter MissionNASA's requirements for high reliability, high performance satellite laser instruments have driven the investigation of many critical components; specifically, 808 nm laser diode array (LDA) pump devices. The MESSENGER mission is flying the Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) which is a diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser instrument designed to map the topography of Mercury. The environment imposed on the instrument by the orbital dynamics places special requirements on the laser diode arrays. In order to limit the radiative heating of the satellite from the surface of Mercury, the satellite is designed to have a highly elliptical orbit. The satellite will heat near perigee and cool near apogee. The laser power is cycled during these orbits so that the laser is on for only 30 minutes (perigee) in a 12 hour orbit. The laser heats 10 C while powered up and cools while powered down. In order to simulate these operational conditions, we designed a test to measure the LDA performance while being temperature and power cycled. Though the mission requirements are specific to NASA and performance requirements are derived from unique operating conditions, the results are general and widely applicable. We present results on the performance of twelve LDAs operating for several hundred million pulses. The arrays are 100 watt, quasi-CW, conductively-cooled, 808 nm devices. Prior to testing, we fully characterize each device to establish a baseline for individual array performance and status. Details of this characterization can be found in reference. Arrays are divided into four groups and subjected to the temperature and power cycling matrix are shown.
Document ID
20040079713
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
Authors
Stephen, Mark
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Vasilyev, Aleksey
(Science Systems and Applications, Inc. Lanham, MD, United States)
Schafer, John
(Science Systems and Applications, Inc. Lanham, MD, United States)
Allan, Graham R.
(Sigma Space Corp. Lanham, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
August 21, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2004
Subject Category
Lasers And Masers
Meeting Information
Meeting: Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics
Location: San Francisco, CA
Country: United States
Start Date: May 1, 2004
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
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