A microsecond pulsed sodium has been developed in TIPC laser physics research center, the power of this laser is around 20W and the length of the pulse is about 120 microseconds. In 2011, an experiment to project the TIPC prototype laser to the sky and measure the photon returns of the laser has been held on the 1.8 meter telescope in Yunnan observation site. During the sky test, an artificial sodium beacon has been successfully generated, and the brightness of the sodium beacon is around 8.7M in V Band. In the 2012 test campaign, the sodium column density facility has mounted on the telescope to test the local sodium density and structure and the sodium density test result is around 2.2x10¹³/m².

Date Published: 13 September 2012
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 8447, Adaptive Optics Systems III, 84471R (13 September 2012); doi: 10.1117/12.925641

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8447:
Adaptive Optics Systems III
Brent L. Ellerbroek; Enrico Marchetti; Jean-Pierre Véran, Editor(s)