English

DTIC ADA410896: Development of an All Solid-State Raman Image Amplifier

This report describes a new type of eye-safe, range-gated lidar sensing element based on solid-state Raman image amplification (SSRIA) in a solid-state optical crystal. SSRIA can amplify low-level images in the eye-safe infrared at 1.556 pm with gains up to 106 with the addition of only quantum-limited noise. The high gains from SSRlA can compensate for low quantum efficiency detectors and can reduce the need for detector cooling. The range-gate of SSRIA is controlled by the pulse width of the pump laser and can be as short as 30 100 Cm, using pump pulses of 2 - 6.7 nsec FWHM. A rate equation theoretical model is derived to help in the design of short-pulsed Raman lasers. A theoretical model for the quantum noise properties of SSRIA is presented. SSRIA results in higher SNR images throughout a broad range of incident light levels, in contrast to the increasing noise factor with reduced gain in image intensified CCD's. A theoretical framework for the optical resolution of SSRIA is presented and it is shown that SSRIA can produce higher resolution than ICCD's.

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