Conduction Cooled Compact Laser for Chemcam Instrument

• Published in: 2007 European Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics and the International Quantum Electronics Conference p. 1
• Main Authors: Faure, B., Saccoccio, M., Maurice, S., Durand, E., Derycke, C., Willeman, JL, Raby, S.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01.06.2007
• Subjects: Chemical lasers; Electric breakdown; Instruments; Mars; Optical pulses; Plasma chemistry; Plasma sources; Prototypes; Spectroscopy; Testing
• DOI: 10.1109/CLEOE-IQEC.2007.4385864
• ISBN: 9781424409303; 1424409306

A new conduction cooled compact laser for laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) on Mars is presented. The laser provides pulses with energy higher than 30mJ at 1mum with a good spatial quality. Three development prototypes of this laser have been built and functional and environmental tests have been done. The goal of this instrument is to study the chemical composition of Martian rocks. A laser source (subject of this presentation) emits a pulse which is focused by a telescope. It creates a luminous plasma on the rock; the light of this plasma is then analysed by a spectrometer to obtain information on the composition of the rock.