High-power ns-pulse fiber laser sources for remote sensors

The development of fiber-based laser sources for space-borne remote sensors must meet many concurrent requirements including high pulse energy/peak power, excellent beam quality, narrow spectral linewidth, simple thermal management, small volume and mass, low power consumption, rugged packaging, and long-term reliability. To address these requirements, many aspects of pulse fiber laser technology must be advanced beyond the state of the art of traditional optical sources used in telecommunications and materials processing. In this article, we discuss component and solutions that enable pulsed fiber laser sources to support remote sensing from space. We also describe several examples of such sources and characterize their performance.