介绍了钠导星激光器在自适应光学系统中的应用价值，分析了其指标特点及技术难点。按产生方式的不同，分别从染料激光器、固体激光器、光纤激光器3个方面阐述了钠导星激光器的发展历程及最新进展。染料钠导星激光器是最早获得工程应用的激光器，但由于体积较大、稳定性及可靠性较差等缺点逐渐遭到淘汰。固体钠导星激光器又分为和频(SFG)、受激拉曼散射(SRS)及光参量放大器(OPA)3种类型，其中和频方式应用最为广泛，科学家们已根据需要开发出宏微脉冲体制、连续单频体制及连续锁模体制的激光器，并已研制出平均功率50 W的商用产品。光纤钠导星激光器是近几年迅猛发展起来的一类新型激光器，尤其是基于拉曼光纤放大器倍频的连续单频钠导星激光器，输出功率已突破了50 W。

Sodium guide star lasers have a great application in the adaptive optics systems. The characteristic parameters and technique difficulties of the lasers are analyzed. According to the generation methods, the sodium guide star lasers can be divided into three types: dye lasers, solid lasers and fiber lasers. The development history and the state of the art of them are expatiated. Dye lasers applied in engineering firstly have been washed out because of its big scale, low stability and dependability, and so on. Solid lasers include sum-frequency generation (SFG), stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) and optical parameter amplifier (OPA). SFG lasers are used mostly and developed into macro-micro pulse lasers, continuous single frequency lasers and continuous mode-locked lasers by scientists for different requirements. The commercial SFG lasers with 50 W average power have been produced recently. The fiber sodium guide star lasers as a novel type have been developed rapidly in recent years. Especially, the continuous single frequency sodium guide star lasers based on the Raman fiber amplifier and the second harmonious generation have exceeded 50 W average power.