Abstract
Compact, high power lasers with narrow linewidth are important tools for the manipulation of quantum systems. We demonstrate a compact, self-injection locked, Fabry-Perot semiconductor laser diode with high output power at 493 nm. A high quality factor magnesium fluoride whispering gallery mode resonator enables both high passive stability and 1 kHz instantaneous linewidth. We use this laser for laser-cooling, in-situ isotope purifcation, and probing barium atomic ions confined in a radio-frequency ion trap. The results here demonstrate the suitability of these lasers in trapped ion quantum information processing and for probing weak coherent optical transitions.
Highlights
Compact, high power lasers with narrow linewidth are important tools for the manipulation of quantum systems
The principle of operation of the laser system shown here is similar to a standard external cavity diode laser—a laser diode is coupled to a narrowband cavity, and optical feedback to the diode selects the lasing mode
The 1.83 mm diameter MgF2 Whispering gallery mode (WGM) cavity is mounted on a custom, miniaturised, thermally controlled platform matched to the thermal expansion of the resonator
Summary
High power lasers with narrow linewidth are important tools for the manipulation of quantum systems. The feedback collapses the spectrum of the laser diode to a high Q-factor optical mode This selfinjection locking m echanism[4] has produced narrow linewidth lasers from the blue part of the visible spectrum at low power[2] to the mid-infrared part of the spectrum at high p ower[3]. We used a larger WGM cavity (diameter 1.83 mm) to avoid these nonlinear processes while simultaneously adding gold nano-particles to the cavity to rarefy the optical spectrum density[15] This technique enables high power single mode operation while maintaining the dynamic locking range of the laser (see Fig. 1)
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