Lasers for guide-stars: an urgent need and challenging requirements

Summary form only given. This talk summarizes the requirements (average power, temporal format, spectral content, beam quality, efficiency size and weight, and operating environment) of laser devices needed for mesospheric laser guide-star generation. The motivation is to generate interest in the solid-state laser community for innovative approaches to solving this problem. Devices capable of generating 100 watts or more of average power, which can be mounted directly on large telescopes, are desired.