High-power eye-safe 1.57-um optical parametric oscillator (OPO) lidar for atmospheric boundary-layer measurements

We have developed a new eye-safe, high power lidar system which uses a Nd:YAG pumped KTP optical parametric oscillator (OPO) as the laser source. The output power of the OPO was about 170 mJ/pulse with a wavelength of 1.57 microns. Preliminary atmospheric lidar returns have been measured with this system out to ranges of 5 km.