Monitoring and active stabilization of laser injection locking using beam ellipticity

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel method for stabilizing laser injection locking by monitoring output beam ellipticity, enabling improved stability and tuning range without modifying existing laser systems.

Contribution

The authors introduce a non-invasive stabilization technique based on beam ellipticity sensing, applicable to commercial lasers without internal modifications.

Findings

Effective stabilization of laser injection locking demonstrated.

Method increases mode-hop free tuning range.

Applicable to commercial laser systems without internal changes.

Abstract

We unveil a powerful method for stabilization of laser injection locking based on sensing variations in the output beam ellipticity of an optically seeded laser. The effect arises due to an interference between the seeding beam and the injected laser output. We demonstrate the method for a commercial semiconductor laser without the need for any internal changes to the readily-operational injection locked laser system that was utilized. The method can also be used to increase the mode-hop free tuning range of lasers, and has the potential to fill a void in the low-noise laser industry.