Low-Pressure Gain-Cell Laser-Detector Operation with A CO2 Transversely Excited Atmospheric (Tea) Laser

Abstract

The recent development of a low-pressure CO2 gain-cell1 preamplifier for optical receivers has stimulated renewed interest in the technique in the lidar community. Early work in this area2 indicated that a gain factor of only 2.5 could be achieved using a 72-cm long gain cell. Because low gain did not appear to justify the added cost and complexity to a lidar system, interest in the technique decreased.