The use of large ground based adaptive optics telescopes holds the potential to revolutionize astronomcial observation at visible wavelengths. In order to make such systems practical, bright sources (guide stars) must be available over all regions of the sky. such stars can be artificially produced by laser excitation of resonance radiation in the mesospheric sodium layer. This project addresses the development of a suitable laser. The Phase I work plan is to breadboard and evaluate two configurations of a dye laser pumped dye amplifier. The data will include gain, beam quality, and efficiency measurements as functions of input power, pump laser fluence, dye concentration, and solvent composition at low repetition rates. The results will be used to prepare a baseline design scaled to 100 pulsars per second. Phase II will be dedicated to the construction of the scaled laser and the demonstration of a usable guide star.
