[Under construction]2016 AFOSR MURIInternal Cooling of Fiber and Disc Lasers by Radiation Balancing and other Optical or Phonon ProcessesPO: Dr. Jason Marshall, Laser and Optical PhysicsPI: Dr. James Eden, University of IllinoisWebsite: TBD
The MURI program described here is designed to demonstrate, characterize, and scale in power both fiber and disc lasers that are cooled at rates unattainable in the past. Entitled “Internal Cooling of Fiber and Disc Lasers By Radiation Balancing and Other Optical and Phonon Processes”, this proposal is submitted to Dr. John Luginsland and Dr. Jason Marshall of AFOSR in response to ONR BAA 15-FOA-0011, MURI Topic #12 (“Radiation-Balanced Lasers: New Vistas in Optical Gain and Refrigeration Materials”). The impetus for this proposal is a series of recent developments that have opened the door to achieving unprecedented levels of cooling of rare earth-doped fiber and bulk solid state lasers. One enabling technology is the capability now available to precisely control the composition of fluoride or crystal-derived glass fibers doped with one or more rare earths. This new ability to control fiber structure in low phonon energy hosts, combined with the recent introduction of (for example) ultra low-loss gratings and a novel optical resonator generating close-packed, multiple beams, provides an exciting opportunity to achieve the long-sought goal of realizing solid state lasers that can be scaled to the kW level and beyond while maintaining the beam quality at M2 values below 1.2. The implications of such a capability for the DOD in directed energy applications, as well as for commercial materials processing and LIDAR, are enormous.
A team of internationally-recognized experts has been assembled to aggressively pursue accelerated rates of cooling of high power fiber and disc lasers. Each member of the team is a pioneer in at least one aspect of the physics, materials science, or optics that is critical to the success of this program. The co-PIs are: John Ballato (Clemson University), Michel Digonnet (Stanford University), Peter Dragic (University of Illinois), Stephen Rand (University of Michigan), and J. Gary Eden (University of Illinois). The PI will be Prof. J. G. Eden who will be responsible for coordinating the research effort. The funding requested for this program is $4,667,788.00 for three years. Furthermore, $2,898,568.00 is sought for two additional (option) years; thus, the total funding sought for the full five year effort is $7,566,356.00. It is our expectation that this AFOSR MURI program will yield major advances in the cooling (and, hence, the performance with regard to beam quality, heat dissipation and efficiency) of high power fiber and disc lasers.