A linewidth narrowed diode laser for metastable Argon atom pumping

Abstract

A volume Bragg grating-based external cavity diode laser array produced more than 100 W output power for metastable argon atoms pumping centered at 811.53 nm with a 0.15 nm spectral linewidth (FWHM). The device has only 4.6 % loss compared to the free-running case operating at full power and a spectral contrast of 40 dB. The emission spectrum can be precisely tuned to 811.53 nm and has an over 200 pm tuning range. Pump absorption was demonstrated by using a repetitively pulsed glow discharge operating with 620 Torr Ar/He mixture, and an average absorption of 24 % of the pump radiation was realized.