High power Yb-doped fiber laser-based LIDAR for space weather

Abstract

Space weather, the study of the Earth's upper atmosphere and forecasting its response due to solar events, depends on knowledge of the state parameters of the neutral and ionized upper atmosphere. In this work, we present a ground-based diode-seeded, high-power, narrow-linewidth Yb-fiber amplifier-based lidar operating at 1083 nm for measuring temperature and density of the neutral atmosphere from 300-1000 km. The current state of the lidar system will be addressed, as well as ongoing work to increase 1) signal to noise ratio through power scaling and 2) spatial resolution and wind measurement capability via pulsed operation.