Solid-state 2-micron laser transmitter advancement for wind and carbon dioxide measurements from ground, airborne, and space-based lidar systems

NASA Langley Research Center has been developing 2-micron lidar technologies over a decade for wind measurements, utilizing coherent Doppler wind lidar technique and carbon dioxide measurements, utilizing Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) technique. Significant advancements have been made towards developing state-of-the-art technologies towards laser transmitters, detectors, and receiver systems. These efforts have led to the development of solid-state lasers with high pulse energy, tunablility, wavelength-stability, and double-pulsed operation. This paper will present a review of these technological developments along with examples of high resolution wind and high precision CO2 measurements in the atmosphere. Plans for the development of compact high power lasers for applications in airborne and future space platforms for wind and regional to global scale measurement of atmospheric CO2 will also be discussed.