Concept for polychromatic laser guide stars : one-photon excitation of the 4P3/2 level of a sodium atom

One challenge for polychromatic laser guide stars is to create a sufficiently intense source in the UV. The flux required for the measurement of differential tip-tilt is the main issue that we address. We describe a model that has been validated using on-sky data. We present a method that excites th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics, image science, and vision Optics, image science, and vision, 2006-11, Vol.23 (11), p.2817-2828
Main Authors: PIQUE, Jean-Paul, MOLDOVAN, Ioana Cristina, FESQUET, Vincent
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Convection, turbulence, diffusion. Boundary layer structure and dynamics
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
External geophysics
Meteorology
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Summary:One challenge for polychromatic laser guide stars is to create a sufficiently intense source in the UV. The flux required for the measurement of differential tip-tilt is the main issue that we address. We describe a model that has been validated using on-sky data. We present a method that excites the 4P3/2 sodium level using a one-photon excitation at 330 nm. It is more efficient than the two-photon excitation previously suggested since its power slope flux is 3 x 10(4) photons/s/m2/W instead of 1.3 x 10(3) photons/s/m2/W. This method is very promising both in terms of flux and system simplicity.
ISSN:1084-7529
1520-8532
DOI:10.1364/JOSAA.23.002817