Sandra Stry

Antireflection-coated blue GaN laser diodes in an external cavity and Doppler-free indium absorption spectroscopy

Commercially available GaN-based laser diodes were antireflection coated in our laboratory and operated in an external cavity in a Littrow configuration. A total tuning range of typically 4 nm and an optical output power of up to 30 mW were observed after optimization of the external cavity. The linewidth was measured with a beterodyne technique, and 0.8 MHz at a sweep time of 50 ms was obtained. The mode-hop-free tuning range was more than 50 GHz. We demonstrated the performance of the laser by detecting the saturated absorption spectrum of atomic indium at 410 nm, allowing observation of well-resolved Lamb dips.

Highly efficient single-pass frequency doubling of a continuous-wave distributed feedback laser diode using a PPLN waveguide crystal at 488 nm

A continuous-wave distributed feedback diode laser emitting at 976 nm was frequency doubled by the use of a periodically poled lithium niobate waveguide crystal with a channel size of 3 microm x 5 microm and an interaction length of 10 mm. A laser to waveguide coupling efficiency of 75% could be achieved resulting in 304 mW of incident infrared light inside the waveguide. Blue laser light emission of 159 mW at 488 nm has been generated, which equals to a conversion efficiency of 52%. The resulting wall plug efficiency was 7.4%.

Rainbow refractometry with a tailored incoherent semiconductor laser source

The authors demonstrate within a metrology experiment the applicability of a recently proposed temporally incoherent semiconductor laser source which relies on nonlinear dynamics. The realized spectrally broadband emission with an output power of 110mW and a coherence length of only 120μm is used in a rainbow refractometry experiment for sizing of liquid droplets, representing an important problem in industrial processes. The observed emission characteristics are attractive for implementation of modern imaging and metrology techniques which are based on the properties of well-directed, temporally incoherent light.

Compact tunable diode laser with diffraction-limited 1 Watt for atom cooling and trapping

Since the introduction of laser-cooling techniques for neutral atoms, the enhancement of high-power lasers with excellent spectral and spatial quality has been an important research subject. We report a new principle of using high-power laserdiodes directly in an external cavity. The very compact design offers an output power of up to 1 W and an excellent beam quality (M2 < 1.2). The coupling efficiency for a single mode fiber exceeds 60%. The center wavelength can be tuned between 775 nm and 785 nm. This laser operates single mode with a mode-hop free tuning range of up to 15 GHz without current modulation and a side-mode suppression better than 55 dB. Demonstrating the suitability for neutral atom cooling we used this laser as light source in the production of a BEC of over a million 87Rb atoms.

Recent developments in cavity ring-down spectroscopy with tunable cw lasers in the mid-infrared

We report on our recent advances with cavity ring-down spectroscopy using mid-infrared cw lasers. An external high- finesse cavity is excited on a single fundamental mode with a tunable laser operating in the 3 micrometers region. After excitation the laser power is turned off for a short time and the subsequent decay of the field stored inside the cavity is observed. The effective pathlength covered by the laser light inside the cavity during the decay amounts to several km, depending on the mirror reflectivity. Measurement of the decay time gives the photon losses and thus enables the detection of weakly absorbing species inside the cavity. This approach is closely related to cavity ring-down spectroscopy with pulsed lasers. However the cw approach exhibits several advantages concerning spectral resolution and detection sensitivity. Application of this method to online monitoring of trace gases seems to be very promising. We demonstrate detection of hydrocarbons, like membrane and ethylene on the ppb level.

Compact tunable external cavity diode laser with diffraction-limited 1 W optical power, and it's application in BEC and CRDS

The combination of high power, small linewidth and rapid tuneability is essential for many fields in high resolution spectroscopy. Furthermore these optical features are essential for laser-cooling techniques. Enhancement of high power lasers with excellent spectral and spatial quality is currently an important research subject. The requirements for a laser system applied in both fields of application are demanding: a mode-hop free tuning range of a few GHz, with a linewidth in the order of 1MHz and an output power of a few 100mW. We report a very compact external cavity diode laser system (ECDL) with an output power of up to 800mW with an almost Gaussian shaped beam quality (M2<1.2). The coupling efficiency for a single mode fibre exceeds 60%. The centre wavelength can be preadjusted within the tuning range of 20 nm. This laser operates single mode with a mode-hop free tuning range of up to 15GHz without current compensation and a side-mode-suppression better than 50dB at different wavelength between 730 and 1060nm. To demonstrate the suitability for neutral atom cooling we used this laser as light source in the production of a BEC of over a million 87Rb atoms. In addition we approved this light source for high resolution spectroscopy, more precisely for the Cavity-Ring-Down-Spectroscopy (CRDS). Our ECDL was part of a MIR-light source which utilizes difference-frequency-generation in PPLN. At the wavelength of 3.3μm we were able to perform a high resolution absorption measurement of 50ppb Ethane. Both applications clearly demonstrate the suitability of this laser for high-precision measurements.

High-frequency tuning of high-powered DFB MOPA system with diffraction limited power up to 1.5W

The combination of high power, small linewidth and fast tunability is essential for many fields in high resolution spectroscopy. External cavity laser diode systems are limited in tuning speed to several kHz by the resonance frequency of the mechanical assembly together with the actuator. We report on the application of a directly modulated DFB laser as master laser within a master laser power amplifier (MOPA) configuration. This DFB MOPA system combines fast frequency tuning up to more then 100kHz tuning speed, a tuning amplitude of more than 10GHz, a narrow linewidth below 5MHz with high output power of 1500mW and an almost Gaussian shaped beam quality (M2<1.2). The coupling efficiency to optical waveguides as well as single mode fibers exceeds 60%. This concept can be realized within the wavelength regime between 730 and 1060nm. We approved this light source for high resolution spectroscopy by frequency locking to the saturated Rubidium absorption at 780nm. Applying two DFB lasers as master lasers of the MOPA configuration opens the choice to high frequency modulated THz radiation.

External-Cavity-QCL-Systeme (External Cavity QCL Systems)

Abstract Für zahlreiche Anwendungen in der industriellen Messtechnik werden durchstimmbare Laser im mittleren infraroten Spektralbereich benötigt. Aufgrund charakteristischer Spektren vieler umwelt- und medizinisch relevanter Moleküle ist dieser Bereich von besonderem Interesse. Um einen Laser mit einem großen monomodig spektral durchstimmbaren Wellenlängenbereich zu realisieren, sind Quantenkaskadenlaser entspiegelt und in einem externen Resonator betrieben worden.

Monolithic ring resonator with PPLN crystal for efficient cw SHG of 976 nm emitted by a diode laser

A new setup for efficient blue light generation that consists of two passively coupled optical resonators is presented. The first resonator is based on a broad area laser diode (BAL) in a Littrow external cavity with a special off-axis design. This external cavity diode laser provides more than 450 mW diffraction limited and narrow bandwidth emission at 976 nm. A compact cavity design with 40 mm length could be realized. The second resonator is a monolithic high finesse ring cavity containing a 10 mm bulk periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) crystal for resonant second harmonic generation. This ring resonator consists of four small mirrors with appropriate reflectivities and two GRIN lenses for stability reasons. All parts of this ring cavity are mounted monolithically on a glass substrate with a size of 19.5 mm x 8.5 mm. First experiments showed good passive matching of both cavities without any active closed-loop control. With this setup efficient SHG was achieved. A maximum optical output power of 70 mW blue light at 488 nm was obtained. The conversion efficiency was better than 15%.

Widely tuneable ultra stable 1W two color THz laser source

Coherent cw-THz-radiation allows access to new applications in the field of medicine, industrial process control, data communication and security applications. Major advantages of radiation in this spectral range are that it penetrates through e.g. plastics but is strongly reflected by metals and that molecules show distinct and distinguishable spectra so that a selective sensing of single species is possible. However, existing THz-sources are either very bulky or expensive. THz sources can require cryogenic temperatures or emit only low power radiation. Furthermore the setup is often very complicated and sensitive so that field measurements are not possible. Generation of THz radiation based on the technology of frequency mixing requires laser radiation with a difference frequency in the order of 0.1-2 THz. Due to the low efficiency of frequency mixers, high optical power is required for pumping frequency mixers. Furthermore, the small efficiency requires short optical pulses for avoiding a high heat dissipation of the frequency mixers. We investigated an ultra stable 1W two colour THz pump source for the generation of a THz beat signal with rapid single mode tuning over several THz. The system consist of a fixed wavelength and a motorized tuneable laser pump sources which are optical amplified within a pulse operation module. One laser is stabilized to an atomic reference while the other is locked to an optical cavity which can be tuned continuously. This signal is pump source for a state of the art frequency mixer, which is typically realized as LT-GaAs crystal with an antenna design.