Development of a continuously tunable titanium-sapphire laser system for the ARIEL laser ion source

Abstract

A concept for continuously tunable titanium-sapphire (Ti:Sa) lasers using dispersion prisms is under investigation for the ARIEL (Advanced Rare IsotopE Laboratory) laser ion source at TRIUMF (Canada’s particle accelerator center). Wavelength selection for pulsed Ti:Sa lasers used in hot cavity laser resonance ionization spectroscopy is usually done with birefringent filters (BRFs) and etalons or diffraction gratings. For resonance ionization spectroscopy a laser system allowing a continuous wavelength scan is necessary. Tunable lasers based on BRFs and etalons have high output powers however require synchronized optimization for continuous laser wavelength scans and are therefore laborious to use in scanning applications. Diffraction grating tuned lasers can provide continuous wavelength scan over 200 nm range but typically have lower output laser power due to the grating deformation under high pumping power. Aiming to overcome both shortcomings a laser design based on prisms as dispersing element has been revisited. Simulations on the beam path and optical reflectivity are done which show that these losses can be minimized to around 0.04 % for a tuning range from 700 nm up to 920 nm. Further improvement on the tuning range and reduction on the linewidth will be pursued.