Yb-fiber-MOPA based high energy and average power uplink laser beacon for deep space communication operating under Nested PPM format

Abstract

A Yb LMA fiber amplifier based 1030nm laser transmitter capable of operating with high average power and peak power (~500W, 9kW) is presented. The prototype, all-fiber, high TRL level laser transmitter is designed to meet all the single aperture requirements of a multi aperture deep space laser beacon system including operation with Nested pulse position modulation (PPM) format. Nested PPM format consist of an inner modulation PPM-(8,4) with 128nsec slot size and an outer modulation PPM-(2, 2) 65.5usec slot size. Here, nested PPM operation is presented for the first time. In implementing inner modulation strong pre-pulse shaping is required where PPM pattern dependent pulse energy variation (PEV) is minimized. Outer modulation is implemented by directly modulating VBG locked pump lasers for the final two gain. A sophisticated multi-stage, ultra-fast loss of signal (LOS) and backward Raman/lasing monitoring algorithm is implemented for ensuring reliabl operation. Mechanical and electrical design of the delivered laser is scalable to multiple apertures.