Injection-locking technique for heterodyne optical phase locking of a diode laser

A novel technique is demonstrated for heterodyne optical phase locking of a diode laser to a single-frequency source by injection seeding. By modulation of the drive current of the diode laser at as much as several gigahertz, FM sidebands are imposed upon the output. We demonstrate that it is possible to phase lock either sideband to an injected beam. The carrier of the diode laser output is therefore locked in phase with the injected light but with a frequency difference given by the modulation of the drive current. The phase fluctuations between the lasers are analyzed, and the variance is found to be (4.4( degrees ))(2) , corresponding to 99.4% of the diode carrier light locked to the injected beam.     

Amplitude and frequency stabilisation of a Tm–Ho:YAG laser for coherent lidar applications at 2.1 μm

We developed a low-noise, single-frequency Tm–Ho:YAG laser tunable in the wavelength interval between 2087 and 2099 nm. To suppress both amplitude and frequency fluctuations the laser has been stabilised by two different control loops. Intensity noise has been effectively reduced using a feedback loop acting on the pump diode current, based on a biquadratic bandpass filter, which provides up to 17 dB suppression at the relaxation oscillation peak. Absolute frequency stabilisation has been achieved by locking the oscillator to the P(12) absorption line of the HBr molecule at 2097.2 nm using the fringe side locking technique, obtaining a long-term frequency stability better than 32 kHz over an observation time of 60 min. This stabilised source is aimed to injection seeding of a coherent lidar system for high precision measurements of wind velocity.     

用于激光冷却的半导体激光器大频差边模注入锁定的理论及实验研究

利用注入锁定技术实现了与自由运转频率相差1300?GHz的大功率半导体激光器的边模注入 锁定.实验上利用饱和吸收谱和光学外差拍方法详细研究了锁定后主从激光器之间的相干转 移特性,并测量了注入光功率与锁频范围的关系和注入锁定模式建立过程,与利用带注入项 的多模速率方程得到的边模注入锁定的范围相吻合.理论上计算了实现边模注入锁定所满足 的注入光阈值条件,并作了实验验证. 关键词：     

光梳主动滤波放大实现锶原子光钟二级冷却光源

提出一种结合注入锁定技术的主动滤波放大方法,将光梳直接注入锁定至光栅外腔半导体激光器,产生窄线宽激光光源,该光源可以用于锶原子光钟二级冷却.实验中,将中心波长为689 nm,带宽为10 nm的光梳种子光源注入689 nm光栅式外腔半导体激光器,通过半导体增益光谱与半导体光栅外腔,从飞秒光梳的多个纵模梳齿中挑选出一个纵模模式来进行增益放大,再通过模式竞争,实现单纵模连续光输出;同时,光梳的重复频率锁定在线宽为赫兹量级的698 nm超稳激光光源上,因此,注入锁定后输出的窄线宽激光也继承了超稳激光光源的光谱特性.利用得到的输出功率为12 mW的689 nm窄线宽激光光源实现了88Sr原子光钟的二级冷却过程,最终获得温度为3μK,原子数约为5×10~6的冷原子团.该方法可拓展至原子光钟其他光源的获得,从而实现原子光钟的集成化和小型化.     

Optical and RF stability transfer in a monolithic coupled-cavity colliding pulse mode-locked quantum dot laser

We report a novel quantum dot based laser design where a stable high-Q master laser is used to injection lock a passively mode-locked monolithic colliding pulse slave laser. Coupling between the crossed orthogonal laser cavities is achieved through a common monolithically integrated saturable absorber, which results in the locking and hence reduction of the timing jitter as well as the long-term frequency drift of the slave laser. A stable 30?GHz optical pulse train is generated with more than 10?dB reduction in the RF noise level at 20?MHz offset and close to 3 times reduction in the 10?dB average optical linewidth of the slave laser.     

Experimental Injection Map of Semiconductor Laser Submitted to Filtered Feedback

Optical injection consists in the unidirectional coupling between a “slave” laser (SL) and a “Master” laser (ML). The injected SL may exhibit different behaviors, showing frequency locking, wave mixing, relaxation regimes, period doubling, and chaos. The different regimes may be mapped on a chart where the injected power and the detuning between the slave and the master frequencies are varied. In this paper, a detailed overview of the regimes are given when the SL is submitted to both optical injection and filtered optical feedback. This last coupling is realized thanks to an extended cavity, which includes a frequency filter. When the SL is operating far from threshold (4 I_th), typical regimes mentioned for feedback-free laser are observed for all the external-cavity modes. On the contrary, when the SL operates close to threshold (1.5 I_th), it is shown that the dynamics is wealthier. New regimes, as one for which simultaneously chaos and locking occur, can be identified, in comparison to the case of a single-frequency SL.     

Amplitude-squeezed, frequency-modulated, tunable, diode-laser-based source for sub-shot-noise FM spectroscopy

We have developed a frequency-modulated, tunable, amplitude-squeezed, diode-laser-based source and used it to perform FM spectroscopy on rubidium. The setup consists of a free-running diode laser injection locked by a frequency-stabilized, current-modulated diode laser. The injection-locked slave laser beam adopted the frequency spectrum of the master laser beam while rejecting residual AM in the master laser beam by more than 50 dB. Injection locking also enhanced amplitude squeezing in the slave laser beam by suppressing uncorrelated longitudinal sidemodes. The noise floor of the measurement was 0.8 dB below the shot-noise level.     

FM dye lasers

We have investigated the detailed operation of a frequency modulated dye laser (FML). The FML consists of a standing wave Rh6G dye laser with an intracavity transverse ADP phase modulator which is driven at a frequency close to the cavity mode spacing. An ideal FML output consists of a laser beam which is constant in amplitude but sinusoidally varying in frequency. This provides a source of many laser modes which are equally spaced by the modulation frequency. Several dye laser configurations have been investigated. Measurements of the mode intensities, total power, amplitude modulation and rf beat amplitudes have been made as a function of the rf driving frequency of the phase modulator. The FM laser obtained has been frequency stabilised by locking it to a reference interferometer and also by frequency offset locking it to a single-frequency dye laser.     

Simultaneous Amplification of Terahertz Difference Frequencies by an Injection-Seeded Semiconductor Laser Amplifier at 850 nm

Two-frequency operation of an 850 nm semiconductor optical amplifier was achieved by simultaneously injection seeding it with two diode lasers. The two frequencies could be independently amplified without strong interference when they were separated by more than 10 GHz, and the spectral purity was preserved by the amplification process. At frequency differences below 10 GHz, unbalanced two-frequency output was observed, which can be explained by a two-mode interaction driven by the refractive index modulation at the beat frequency. The laser system is suitable for the difference-frequency generation of coherent terahertz radiation in ultra-fast photoconductors or nonlinear optical media.     

100 W, single-frequency operation of an injection-locked Nd:YAG laser

We have built a single-frequency Nd:YAG laser capable of producing an output power of 101 W by injection locking a slave laser that can emit an output power of 121 W in the free-running state to a 2-W master laser. We confirmed that the output mode was diffraction limited and linearly polarized.     

Research on tunable local laser used in ground-to-satellite coherent laser communication

In order to realize homodyne reception and Doppler frequency shift tracking in ground-to-satellite coherent laser communication, a local laser is experimentally demonstrated in this Letter. It is realized based on modulationsideband injection locking, and has a 10 GHz tuning range, a 1 THz/s tuning rate, a 5 k Hz linewidth, and 16 m W of output power. When applied to a Costas loop in a coherent laser communication system, the local laser can achieve ?5 GHz Doppler frequency shift tracking with a 20 MHz/s frequency shift rate, which is sufficient for the ground-to-satellite coherent laser communication.     

注入锁定改善大口径稳定腔CuBr激光器的输出特性

报道了在稳定腔中采用注入锁定技术，钭自锁模ＣｕＢｒ激光脉冲成功地进行了注入锁定放大，得到了高平均功率的锁模铜激光脉冲，并且通过这种注入锁定，首次在稳定腔中得到了在２０ｍｍ光斑内空间高度相干的高功率铜激光辐射。     

光注入半导体激光器产生可调谐高频微波

利用光注入半导体激光器产生的单周期振荡,实验获得了61—129 GHz范围内频率连续可调的微波光信号.同时利用半导体激光器速率方程,对光注入半导体激光器产生高频微波进行了数值模拟.模拟和实验结果均表明微波信号产生于注入光和激光器腔模之间的拍频现象,其频率随着注入光强度和波长失谐的增大而增大,模拟结果预测该方法可以产生频率大于40 GHz的高频微波. 关键词： 光通信 光生微波 拍频 半导体激光器     

Optical phase locking of two extended-cavity diode lasers with ultra-low phase noise for atom interferometry

We present a phase coherent laser system with ultra-low phase noise with a frequency difference of 6.9 GHz. The laser system consists of two extended-cavity diode lasers that are optically phase-locked with electrical feedback to the injection current of a slave laser. The bandwidth of the optical phase-locking loop is extended up to 8 MHz. We achieve the residual phase noise of two phase-locked lasers of below ?120 dBrad²/Hz in the offset frequency range of 100 Hz–350 kHz and a flat phase noise of ?127 dBrad²/Hz from 700 Hz to 20 kHz. These results are, to the best of our knowledge, the lowest phase noise level ever reported with two extended-cavity diode lasers.     

Phase and spectral properties of optically injected semiconductor lasers

The main control parameters of a single mode semiconductor laser submitted to an injected external signal are the power and the frequency of the injected signal. Following their magnitude, many phenomena can be observed such as phase locking, frequency locking, frequency generation, push-pull effects, hysteresis phenomena and chaos,... We show here that the spectral signature of the slave laser enables a better understanding of the the nonlinear interaction between the two competing sources: the spontaneous emission and the external field for which spectra are equally amplified through the active medium. This amplification is then strongly dependent on their coherency. We describe the role of the injected laser as a filter and an amplifier. It follows that the laser can be used to process information in ways that are not yet completely exploited. To cite this article: S. Blin et al., C. R. Physique 4 (2003).     

Single-frequency polarized eye-safe all-fiber laser with peak power over kilowatt

An all-fiber, single-frequency, linearly polarized, high peak-power, pulsed laser at 1,540 nm for Doppler wind lidar is presented. This laser is composed of a single-frequency, narrow-linewidth external cavity diode laser, and multistage fiber amplifiers. A peak power of 1.08 kW and a pulse width of 500 ns at 10 kHz repetition rate are achieved, which is the highest peak power with a linewidth of 800 kHz in erbium-doped silica fiber to our knowledge. The beam quality of M ² < 1.3 and a polarization extinction ratio over 16 dB are obtained. This laser will be employed in a compact long-range coherent Doppler wind lidar.     

外光注入半导体激光器实现时钟分频

从理论和实验上研究了利用光注入半导体激光器对高重复速率光脉冲产生的周期振荡和时钟分频现象.结果表明，光注入半导体激光器引起的二倍周期振荡是使注入脉冲重复频率分频的直接原因.通过耦合速率方程，数值模拟了半导体激光器在外光注入时输出光的时间序列和功率谱，并且分析了激光腔内各种周期振荡的特征.研究表明，当注入光使半导体激光器出现稳定的二倍周期振荡，且注入光的重复频率为此振荡频率的二倍时，时钟分频即可产生实验中，采用重复频率为6.32GHz的光脉冲注入Fabry-Perot激光器，实现了3.16GHz时钟分频信号 关键词： 周期振荡 时钟分频 光谱侧带 光注入     

Dual-frequency pulsed laser with an accurate gigahertz-beat note

We report a novel nanosecond pulsed laser with a highly accurate gigahertz beat that is realized by injection locking to gigahertz sidebands generated from a single-frequency cw laser radiation using a Mach-Zehnder type intensity modulator. It is shown from both the spectrum of the pulsed sidebands and their coherent beat in the time domain that the frequency accuracy of an rf oscillator driving the intensity modulator is reflected in the injection-locked nanosecond pulse with an intense peak power of the megawatt class.     

Phase Locking of 2-mm Wave Sources Upon High-Order IMPATT Multipliers

We describe experiments resulting in the phase locking of two electrically tunable 2-mm wave sources based on active high-order IMPATT multipliers. Phase locking modes were tested on a pair of identical multiplying sources (master and slave) with the tuning ranges 138.5+/–1.5 GHz (master) and 140.0+/– GHz (slave). The phase lock loop (PLL) system is used to lock the slave source to the master source. The multipliers of this type can translate the spectra of highly stable centimeter-wave oscillators to any part of the millimeter range with the output power 100÷20 mW over the 30 to 140 GHz range without additional amplification. The phase locked sources operate over a 3% frequency band with low phase noise and rapid frequency tuning. The amplitude-frequency characteristics of the sources are presented with the locking-mode signal spectra.     

Optical phase locking with a large and tunable frequency difference based on a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser

We present a novel method to phase lock two lasers with a controllable frequency difference. A microwave frequency-modulated vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser is used to phase connect two diode lasers by a two-step injection locking. The phase fluctuations of the two lasers are measured to be 6.4 x 10(-4) rad2, corresponding to 99.94% phase coherence. The frequency difference of the two lasers is tunable up to tens of gigahertz. The sideband suppression of the slave laser is more than 30 dB at 30 microW seed power. A narrow linewidth spectrum of coherent population trapping in rubidium is achieved using such beams.