
Proceedings Paper
Tunable high-purity microwave signal generation from a dual-frequency VECSEL at 852 nmFormat | Member Price | Non-Member Price |
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We describe the dual-frequency operation of an optically-pumped vertical external cavity semiconductor laser (VECSEL) stabilized onto an Cs atomic transition. It is based on the simultaneous emission of two cross-polarized adjacent longitudinal modes inside the same laser cavity, which provides a strong correlation between the two laser lines. The frequency difference, in the GHz range, is fixed by the intracavity phase anisotropy, and precisely tuned with an electro-optic modulator (EOM). For this work, we additionally take benefit of the class-A dynamical behaviour of VECSEL which results in a shot-noise limited relative-intensity-noise on a wide spectral range.
The GaAs/AlGaAs active structure is pumped with a 1W-fiber coupled laser diode at 670 nm. The laser cavity has been carefully designed for improved thermal and mechanical stability, and compactness. It consists in a 15-mm concave output coupler, a glass Fabry-Perot etalon, a YVO4 birefringent plate and a MgO:SLT EOM. The output power at each frequency reaches 20 mW. The frequency difference is phase-locked to a microwave reference source through the EOM voltage with a MHz bandwidth, resulting in a high-purity optically-carried microwave signal. Simultaneously, one laser line is locked on a Cs atomic hyperfine transition at 852 nm through a low-bandwidth servo-loop on the cavity length. The performance of our laser source is thus fully compatible with the excitation of Cs atoms in coherent population trapping atomic clocks.
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 8606, Vertical External Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VECSELs) III, 86060S (21 February 2013); doi: 10.1117/12.2014240
N. Girard, Thales Research and Technology (France)
J. M. Danet, LNE-SYRTE, CNRS, Observatoire de Paris (France)
G. Baili, Thales Research and Technology (France)
L. Morvan, Thales Research and Technology (France)
D. Dolfi, Thales Research and Technology (France)
S. Guérandel, LNE-SYRTE, CNRS, Observatoire de Paris (France)
I. Sagnes, Lab. de Photonique et de Nanostructures, CNRS (France)
P. Georges, Lab. Charles Fabry, CNRS, Univ. Paris-Sud XI (France)
G. Lucas-Leclin, Lab. Charles Fabry, CNRS, Univ. Paris-Sud XI (France)
Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8606:
Vertical External Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VECSELs) III
Jennifer E. Hastie, Editor(s)
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