A novel 2 µm laser source for CO 2 DIAL

Recently, laser specifications for a spaceborne sensitive measurement of CO 2 , by differential absorption LIDAR (DIAL) at 2.05 µm, have been derived in terms of output energy, frequency stability and beam quality [1]. In particular, the laser transmitter frequency should be stabilized a few GHz away from the centre of the R30 CO 2 line, with a stability around 2 MHz rms, at tens of mJ of energy levels, within a diffraction limited beam.