A compact, rigid and lightweight diode-laser-pumped Nd:YAG laser module has been custom-designed, built and environmentally tested. This module is power efficient and has no movable mounts for optical alignment. All optical elements have been bonded onto the module using space applicable epoxy. Using two 200 mW diode laser arrays for pump sources, 126 mW of continuous-wave (cw) output has been achieved with about 7% electrical-to-optical conversion efficiency. This laser module was environmentally tested by subjecting it to vibrational and thermal conditions similar to those experienced during launch of the space shuttle. The module performed well after all tests were completed. A set of 21 semiconductor diode laser arrays were also tested under shuttle-launch vibrational and thermal conditions. In addition, a 600-hour unaccelerated life test was subsequently performed on the diode lasers. Upon completion of vibrational and thermal tests most diode lasers showed little or no degradation in output but some damage to the laser front facet was observed. Following the lifetest, significant degradation was observed on those lasers that had poor performance to begin with. Test results along with suggestions to improve the reliability of the Nd:YAG laser are discussed.

Date Published: 2 June 1989
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 1059, Space Sensing, Communications, and Networking, (2 June 1989); doi: 10.1117/12.951705

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 1059:
Space Sensing, Communications, and Networking
Monte Ross; Richard J. Temkin, Editor(s)