Scalable high brightness laser pump for aerospace applications

Abstract

The Contraves Space development activities for Optical Inter-satellite Link Communications have developed a scalable high brightness laser diode based pump. The optical design of using multidiode lasers allows flexibility with regard to the optical power and the pump wavelength while increasing the reliability figures of a single diode laser. The active alignment during integration guarantees an optical coupling efficiency higher than 60%. Material selection and thermo-mechanical design have been carried out to withstand the harsh environmental conditions typical of the launch phase and of the in orbit operation. Optimisation of mass and volume led to a compact and easy to accommodate solution. The functional and opto-mechanical performance has been validated by test.