Design of a rugged 308 nm tunable UV laser for airborne LIF measurements on top of Zeppelin NT

In this work, a detailed analysis and redesign of a tunable UV laser is presented. The laser is part of measurement system of "IEK 8, Forschungszentrum Jülich" for airborne LIF analysis of the OH-radical concentration. The design concept of the laser comprises a frequency doubled Nd:YAG laser as pump source, a dye as active medium to emit light at 616 nm, and a NLO crystal as intracavity frequency doubler. The output wavelength is tunable by a combination of dispersion prisms and an etalon. During measurement campaigns, the laser is mounted on top of Zeppelin NT and therefore is exposed to temperatures ranging from 10 to 40 °C and ambient pressures from 800 to 1000 hPa. In former flights the output power of an existing laser decreased rapidly and the wavelength was unstable during the flights and therefore hinders continuous measurements. The analysis of the existing laser combines a theoretical study of tolerance requirements with experimental testing of opto-mechanical components and of the entire laser system in a climatic test chamber. The performance of the laser is measured over the expected temperature range. It is shown that changing the baseplate temperature by a few Kelvin stops laser emission completely. The optical mounts that are used in the laser and worthwhile alternatives were tested separately in the climatic chamber. The stability of the best mounts exceeds those currently used by a factor of 50. A new laser has been built based on the results of the analysis and further experiments for an optical redesign. This laser was on a field campaign for several weeks and worked reliably