Laser frequency offset locking using a side of filter technique

Abstract

We report on the demonstration of a novel scheme for laser frequency offset locking. Following standard techniques, a beat signal is generated between the laser to be frequency stabilized and a second laser with known frequency. A frequency dependent error signal is derived from this beat note by using the amplitude response of an electronic high pass filter. The steep slope of the error signal near the zero-crossing allows for precise frequency locking by a servo loop, while simultaneously a broad capture range of several hundreds of MHz is obtained.