Widely tunable laser sources are desirable for many experiments and applications. The goal of this work is to develop sources of high frequency stability, low frequency noise, and tunability through the entire gain bandwidth of the diode laser without mode hops. Mode hops are discrete jumps in both amplitude and phase that are detrimental in many tunable laser applications. Tuning performance and analysis of grazing incidence external cavity lasers are emphasized in this paper. The external cavity diode laser studied in this work is an effective low noise platform for accessing a wide range of elements from the periodic table for atomic absorption experiments such as process control and monitoring. Frequency doubling can be used to reach many elements not accessible at the diodes fundamental wavelength range. Vapor deposition, wavelength division multiplexing, coherent communications, and fundamental research are additional applications for widely tunable external cavity diode lasers.

Date Published: 26 April 1995
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 2378, Laser Frequency Stabilization and Noise Reduction, (26 April 1995); doi: 10.1117/12.208238

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 2378:
Laser Frequency Stabilization and Noise Reduction
Yaakov Shevy, Editor(s)