Victor, NY--Toptica Photonics AG has been awarded the final development and supply contract for sodium guidestar lasers at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) at Paranal, Chile. The VLT will be equipped with four cw high power laser guidestars based on amplified and frequency-doubled diode laser systems. The contract is worth $6.5 M (€5.2 M) and laser deployment is anticipated to be in September 2013.
In a press release the company said it had won the contract competing against strong international competition. Toptica—with many years of experience in the field of narrow band and tunable diode lasers—joined forces with the Canadian company MPB Communications (MPBC; Montréal, Quebec) to develop the guidestar laser. A combination of a novel narrow-band Raman fiber amplifier approach at 1178 nm developed by MPBC subsequently is converted to 589 nm by resonantly enhanced frequency doubling technology. Based on Toptica’s scientific product series, conversion efficiencies of more than 80% have been demonstrated, according to the release
Until now, dye lasers or sum-mixing of solid-state lasers have been used to generate powerful CW laser guide stars. This type of laser, however, is much less efficient, limited in optical output power and extremely demanding in maintenance, says the company. The situation has been changed by fiber Raman technology developed at ESO’s Laser Department over recent years, representing a major breakthrough in the field of fiber Raman lasers and enabling new, compact and ruggedized approaches to the previous problem of high-power lasers at 589 nm. Toptica, as a licensee of the ESO technology, noted that other visible wavelengths can also be covered with much higher powers.
Within about three years Toptica together with MPBC will build four complete turnkey laser systems that include active wavelength stabilization. These systems will be installed into the existing telescope structure of the VLT, in Chile, and the 20 W fundamental mode laser sources are designed to provide the backbone of the VLT Adaptive Optics Facility for years to come.
“The reduction of complexity in comparison to former solutions for guidestars leads to an industrially reliable concept with good scalability also for future demands,” promises Toptica’s president Dr. Wilhelm Kaenders. “We are very keen to combine our technological leadership with the many years of expertise in building industrial laser system solutions for the challenges that ESO presented to us.”
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) and many other national and international Observatories will equip their telescopes with state-of-the-art laser technology within the next few years. “The four laser units that will be delivered by Toptica are an important part of the Very Large Telescope Adaptive Optics Facility project being carried out by ESO,” stated the Head of the Adaptive Optics Department, Norbert Hubin.
The contract is financed in part by European funds in the framework of the EC FP7 Optical Infrared Coordination Network for Astronomy.
For more information visit www.topticaphotonics.com