Broad bandwidth interference filter-stabilized external cavity diode laser with narrow linewidth below 100 kHz**Project supported by the Foundation of Based Technology of China (Grant No. YXBGD20151JL01), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 61376049, 61604007, 11674016, 61378058, 61575008, and 61574011), the Natural Science Foundation of Beijing City, China (Grant Nos. 4172009 and 4152003), and the Beijing Municipal Commission

Abstract

Interference filter-stabilized external cavity diode lasers (ECDLs) have properties of simple configurations, high stabilities, and narrow linewidths. However, the interference filter used in common ECDL designs requires an ultra-narrow bandwidth (about 0.3 nm) to achieve mode selection, that is considerably expensive and not yet available for a wide range of wavelengths. In this paper, a robust ECDL using an available broad bandwidth (about 4 nm) interference filter as the wavelength discriminator is constructed and tested. The ECDL demonstrated a narrow Lorentzian fitted linewidth of 95 kHz and a spectral purity of 2.9 MHz. The long-term frequency stability of the ECDL reaches 5.59×10−12.