Tunable dual wavelength emission and bandwidth narrowing of a laser diode array with a simple external cavity

We report on the performance of a commercial, non-AR-coated diode laser bar of 20 W output power, consisting of 20 emitters, which uses an external cavity to achieve tunable, dual-wavelength emission. The separation between the wavelength peaks can be continuously tuned from 0 nm to 5 nm. An output power of 2.9 W is achieved at 3.7 nm peak-to-peak separation and higher powers are achieved for less separation. This is the highest dual wavelength output power reported so far using a standard diode laser array. PACS 42.55.Px; 42.60.-v; 42.60.Da; 42.60.Fc