ECDL Development

Polarization Locked Tuning of an ECDL

We demonstrated tuning control of an external cavity diode laser employing a non-AR coated diode enabled mode-hop free tuning up to a tuning range of 130 GHz.

General setup of the ECDL with polarization locking

Modehop free tuning over 105 GHz using Piezo-Current locking Modehop free tuning over 130 GHz using Temperature-Piezo Locking

History

Practical tests of the NO sensor showed that the principle of the sensor works. However, due to the limitations in the scanning of the ECDL caused by the acoustically and vibrationally challenging environment, the sensitivity was limited. Therefore we concentrated on ways to extend the mode-hop free tuning range of ECDLs in general. Obviously such systems have a large number of possible applications.

References

Thorsten Führer, Sabine Euler and Thomas Walther, Model for tuning an external-cavity diode laser by polarization locking, J Opt. Soc. Am. B 28 (2011) 508-514

Thorsten Führer, Denise Stang and Thomas Walther, Actively controlled tuning of an external cavity diode laser by polarization spectroscopy, Optics Express 17 (2009) 4991-4996

Thorsten Führer and Thomas Walther, Extension of the mode-hop free tuning range of an External Cavity Diode Laser Based on a Model of the Mode-hop Dynamics, Optics Letter 33 (2008) 372-374