Development of a model of an optical system of a solid-state laser amplifier for a meteorological lidar

It is necessary to improve the design technologies of laser measuring equipment and its components. At the same time, one of the important aspects in this direction when designing laser amplifiers is to take into account both their electro-optical and mass-dimensional characteristics. Taking such characteristics into account is necessary when using the designed component of the device in meteorological lidars for analyzing atmospheric parameters, as well as monitoring the environmental situation for development of a model of a solid-state erbium laser amplifier for a meteorological lidar. Therefore, to improve the equipment for this purpose, it is necessary to optimize the parameters of the laser system, which requires designing a model of an erbium planar waveguide, as well as selecting optical elements and justifying the choice of components based on modeling and calculations necessary for designing a laser amplifier. Purpose – development of a model of a solid-state amplifier based on erbium crystals. This paper presents the results of developing a model of a solid-state erbium amplifier. By applying the planar waveguide configuration to erbium glass, an amplifier was created that can generate a pulse with a power of more than MJ and is suitable for a Doppler lidar. A theoretical assessment of the values of the technical characteristics of the elements was made, based on which the system components were selected. A five-layer planar waveguide was selected as the active element of the amplifier, for which a model was developed and the values of its main parameters characterizing wavelengths, gain, and power were estimated. An assessment of the heat transfer of this waveguide was carried out, based on which a water cooling scheme for the active element of the amplifier was proposed. The necessary optical elements of the laser amplifier, such as diodes, lenses, mirrors, electro-optical shutters, were selected. A design model was developed that combines a planar waveguide with a cooling system and optical components. The dimensional requirements for the compactness of the laser amplifier design were taken into account during the development. The compact dimensions of the design model allow using it for designing a metrological lidar.