When
Where
TITLE:
“Laser Technology Research at the Air Force Research Laboratory”
ABSTRACT:
The Laser Technology Branch at the Air Force Research Laboratory has been focused on increasing the understanding of laser sources and laser propagation as it relates to AF needs. Dr. Pitz will briefly describe work across the branch associated with Aero-Effects, Laser propagation, beam control, and high energy laser source development. Furthermore, Dr. Pitz will be focused on the development of mid-IR sources using hollow core fibers. The pursuit of high-power mid-IR sources has been limited in fused silica-based sources, the prevalent material in telecommunication solid core fibers, due to strong absorption of light above 2.3µm. However, with the advent of hollow core fibers (HCFs), the potential to effectively transmit mid-IR wavelengths is possible due to the guiding mode being confined in a gas, rather than in fused silica. These novel fiber architectures not only allow for light transmission but also a means to increase path lengths for gas lasers. This effort has demonstrated a fused silica based HCF can achieve 4.8 µm by pumping CO at 1.5µm, establishing a population inversion between the 3rd and 2nd vibrational bands, producing gain at 4.8µm. This wavelength is ideal as it lies within an atmospheric transmission window. In this presentation, we will discuss the most recent results to form a cascade laser within the hollow core fiber, and future work to achieve more efficient lasing.
BIO:
Dr. Pitz received his PhD from the Air Force Institute of Technology in 2010, where his primary work was to perform research to aiding in the development of electric hybrid lasers. During which he helped improve the understanding of pure oxygen discharges and their usefulness for Electrically pumped Oxygen Iodine Lasers (EOIL). His dissertation contributed to the understanding of the cesium line-shape and collisional kinetics associated with diode pumped alkali lasers (DPAL). Since then, he has been working as a Senior Research Physicist at the Air Force Research Laboratory, where he has studied the use of hollow core fibers as a potential source for illuminator lasers, discharge assisted noble gas lasers, and laser propagation using intra-cavity output spectroscopy. Dr. Pitz now serves as the chief of the laser technology branch of the directed energy directorate at AFRL on Kirtland AFB.