A high-precision wavelength meter for tunable diode laser: Measurements of CO 2 and N 2O bands at 10 μm

Abstract

We construct a high-precision wavelength meter for infrared tunable diode lasers (TDL) which consists of moving corner reflectors forming a Michelson interferometer, with a single-frequency HeNe laser as a standard. The design of the wavelength meter is described in detail, and possible sources of errors are discussed. An absolute accuracy of 10 −7 is demonstrated by measuring CO 2 laser wavelengths and almost the same order of accuracy is achieved by applying the wavelength meter to the ν 1 band of N 2O observed by a TDL.