We demonstrate the excellent spectral properties of a diode laser setup that combines good tunability with superb short-term frequency stability and controllability. It is based on merging two concepts, the diode laser with resonant optical feedback and the grating stabilized diode laser. To characterize the short-term performance we beat two essentially identical diode lasers and find a short-...

Different methods of stabilization of diode lasers are reviewed with the emphasis on stabilization to atomic transitions. The stabilization methods to Doppler-broadened and Doppler-free resonances are presented. A novel method of stabilization using the saturated dichroism of atomic vapours is described. An example of stability transfer from the diode laser onto the reference Fabry–Perot cavity...

Spectral gain narrowing of high-average power, regenerative chirped pulse thin-rod Yb:YAG amplifier was compensated by the regenerative spectral and pulse shaping technique. An average output power of 18 W was achieved at a repetition rate of 100 kHz with an output pulse width of below 1.2 ps. A wide spectral bandwidth of 2.5 nm was also observed. 2009 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: (1...

A new microfabrication technique, mass transport, has made possible the development of a new breed of semiconductor laser devices. Mass-transported buried-heterostructure GaInAsP lasers are ideally suited for application in optical-fiber communication systems. In fact, the technology for mass-transported buried-heterostructure lasers has been transferred to a commercial fabricator, and these la...

A variety of applications are driving development of high power laser diodes operating between 1.8 and 2.1 μm. For example, military and space LADAR applications benefiting from low atmospheric absorption around 2.1 μm utilize Ho:YAG solid state lasers. Efficient direct diode pumping of these systems can be achieved with diode lasers operating around 1.9 μm. As another example, high power diode...

An efficient diode-pumped, room temperature Ho:Tm:YLF disk amplifier was realized by end-pump configuration. Compared to side pump configuration, about a factor three improvement in system efficiency has been demonstrated. OCIS codes: (140.3280) Laser amplifiers; (140 3480) Lasers, diode-pumped

We report on improvements made on our previously introduced technique of cavity-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (CERS) with optical feedback cw-diode lasers in the gas phase, including a new mode-matching procedure which keeps the laser in resonance with the optical cavity without inducing long-term frequency shifts of the laser, and using a new CCD camera with improved noise performance. With 10 m...

High power diode lasers have found increased applications in pumping of solid state or fiber laser systems for industrial, military and medical applications as well as direct material processing applications. The non-linearity of the near-field of emitters (or the so called “smile” effect) in a laser diode array poses significant challenges in optical coupling and beam shaping and has become on...

The Libbrecht-Hall circuit is a well-known, low-noise current driver for narrow-linewidth diode lasers. An important feature of the circuit is a current limit to protect the laser diode. As the current approaches the maximum limit, however, the noise in the laser current increases dramatically. This paper documents this behavior and explores simple circuit modifications to alleviate this issue.

Diode-laser-pumped Nd:YAG lasers were frequency stabilized by locking their frequency-doubled output to Doppler-free absorption lines of the (127)I(2) molecule. The successive two-sample deviation of the beat frequency between two independent iodine-stabilized lasers is less than 650 Hz, or 2.3 x 10(-12) of the laser frequency, for averaging times between 24 and 80 s.