11 W narrow linewidth laser source at 780nm for laser cooling and manipulation of Rubidium

TL;DR

This paper reports a high-power, narrow linewidth laser source at 780nm with over 11W output, suitable for laser cooling and atom interferometry, achieved through single-pass frequency doubling of a 1560nm fibre laser.

Contribution

A novel high-power, narrow linewidth laser source at 780nm with over 11W output, using a simple single-pass frequency doubling technique without active stabilization.

Findings

Linewidth below 10kHz without active stabilization

Tunable over 60GHz for rubidium D2 transitions

High power and mode quality suitable for quantum gas experiments

Abstract

We present a narrow linewidth continuous laser source with over 11 Watts of output power at 780nm, based on single-pass frequency doubling of an amplified 1560nm fibre laser with 36% efficiency. This source offers a combination of high power, simplicity, mode quality and stability. Without any active stabilization, the linewidth is measured to be below 10kHz. The fibre seed is tunable over 60GHz, which allows access to the D2 transitions in 87Rb and 85Rb, providing a viable high-power source for laser cooling as well as for large-momentum-transfer beamsplitters in atom interferometry. Sources of this type will pave the way for a new generation of high flux, high duty-cycle degenerate quantum gas experiments.