The Solid State Lasers and Nonlinear Optics department deals with the optimisation of the beam quality of solid state lasers – in particular thin disk lasers – in continuous wave or pulsed operation and their power scaling in the multi-kilowatt range. The focus is on the application of laser radiation over large distances for applications such as the detection and removal of space debris, laser-based air defence and optical energy transmission with lasers (laser power beaming).
Laser-based measurement techniques are developed and studied for other fields such as atmospheric research, communication and remote detection. This includes in particular non-linear optics methods to permit individual selection of the emission wavelength at high frequency stability.
The investigation of laser spectroscopy and its implementation in laser-based flight instruments is a further area of research. The institute develops optical sensor-systems which offer higher precision and reliability of air data, e.g. air pressure, temperature and air speed.