Narrow bandwidth interference filter-stabilized diode laser systems for the manipulation of neutral atoms

TL;DR

This paper develops and compares narrow-band interference filter-stabilized diode laser systems with high power and stability for neutral atom manipulation, introducing a novel high-power laser based on a self-seeded tapered amplifier.

Contribution

It presents a new high-power diode laser with sub-200 kHz linewidth and compares different ECDL configurations using interference filters for stable, tunable laser sources.

Findings

High-power diode laser (>1 W) with <200 kHz linewidth achieved.

Interference filter stabilization offers improved stability over grating-based systems.

Linear cavity design provides high tunability and robustness.

Abstract

We present and investigate different external cavity diode laser (ECDL) configurations for the manipulation of neutrals atoms, wavelength-stabilized by a narrow-band high transmission interference filter. A novel diode laser, providing high output power of more than 1 W, with a linewidth of less than 200 kHz, based on a self-seeded tapered amplifier chip has been developed. Additionally, we compare the optical and spectral properties of two laser systems based on common laser diodes, differing in their coating, as well as one, based on a distributed-feedback (DFB) diode. The linear cavity setup in all these systems combines a robust and compact design with a high wavelength tunability and an improved stability of the optical feedback compared to diode laser setups using diffraction gratings for wavelength discrimination.