frequency stabUization of an externalacavity diode laser

Wo David Lee and Joe C. Campbell

Microelectronics Research Center, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University
of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712
R J. Brecha and H. J. Kimble
Norman Bridge Laboratory of Physics 12-33, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California
91125
(Received 18 June 1990; accepted for publication 27 August 1990)
Using a hybrid optical/electronic technique, an external-cavity diode laser was frequency
stabilized with respect to the sub-Doppler spectrum of cesium vapor. Laser linewidths of 65
kHz and frequency stabilities of ± 10 kHz were obtained.

Linewidth and frequency stability of a semiconductor mode. Frequency locking to the cavity produced a flat re-
laser are important parameters for coherent optical com- gion in the absorption spectrum since the laser frequency
munications. Typically, AIGaAs semiconductor lasers was held approximately constant by the optical feedback
have linewidths of tens of megahertz and their frequency is In this region changes in injection current were largely
quite sensitive to changes in temperature and injection cur- ignored by the laser frequency.
rent. A variety of electronic frequency stabilization The width of this fiat region, referred to as the "lock-
schemes have been developed in order to compensate this ing bandwidth", can be as large as 500 MHz and depends
sensitivity.! Narrow linewidths have been achieved with on the intensity of the optical feedback If fluctuations in
external-cavity lasers using mirrors 2 and diffraction grat- injection current and temperature are small, the laser will
ings 3,4 as optical feedback elements. A novel extemal- remain locked to the confocal cavity. An estimate of the
cavity laser consisting of a laser coupled to a separate con-
focal Fabry-Perot resonator yields not only reduced
linewidths but also provides a convenient mechanism for
tuning the laser. 5,6 The diode laser optically "self-locks" to
a longitudinal mode of the confocal cavity and experiences
a reduction in linewidth. The laser frequency may be tuned
by changing the mirror separation of the external resona-
tor. In this letter, we demonstrate frequency stabilization
of such an external-cavity laser with respect to the
Doppler-free absorption spectrum of cesium.
Figure 1 is a schematic of the external-cavity laser. The
Fabry-Perot resonator's mirrors are identical and are sep-
arated by their radius of curvature (10 em). The free spec-
tral range is 750 MHz with a finesse of 60. The resonator is
aligned so that the light from the laser (Hitachi HLP1400)
enters mirror AI] at a point that coincides with the center
of curvature of mirror M 2 . When the laser frequency is
resonant with a longitudinal mode of the Fabry-Perot cav-
ity, a standing wave is formed and a portion of the intra-
cavity field returns to the laser. The Fabry-Perot serves as
an optical feedback element with a tunable, narrow reflec-
tivity spectrum.
The frequency-locking effect resulting from the optical
feedback is illustrated in Fig, 2. The laser's temperature
and injection current were adjusted so that its wavelength
coincided with the D2 line of cesium. This figure was ob-
tained by diverting part of the laser light through a cesium
vapor cell and measuring the transmission with a photo-
detector, Absorption of the laser light by cesium vapor was
FIG.!. Schematic of external-cavity laser. The laser's beam is directed to
recorded as the laser frequency was scanned using the in- the confocal Fabry-Perot cavity formed by mirrors 1141 and 1142, A neutral
jection current. When the laser frequency did !lot match a density filter (ND I ) is used to adjust the level offeedback while a pinhole
longitudinal mode of the Fabry-Perot cavity the laser fre- (P) blocks stray reflections from the cavity, Saturation spectroscopy is
used to obtain a sub-Doppler absorption spectrum and an error signal for
quency scanned continuously with injection current As the automatic frequency control loop (AFC). The output of the APC
the laser frequency neared a longitudinal cavity mode, op- servo is amplified and drives a piezoelec1ric tram,iator (PZT) ill order to
tical feedback caused the laser frequency to lock to that stabilize the conf,xul cavity and therefore the laser freljuency.

2181 AppL Phys. LeU. 57 (2i), 19 November 1990 0003-6951/90/472181-03$02.00 @ 1990 American Institute of Physics 2181

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 .
'""
:a
0
3'
::::. --
~
:i. -20
,..-<t:
Q
Vl
,...,
IN
~
~
-40
r..:: c:
('\l S
~ ~

Ii: ....'"c:
CI'J -e -60
Q <IJ
W :..
!:.... U
""
::I -80

~ c:
rJ)
Z .~
-<t: .....
;::.: u Center: 229 MHz; Span: 437 MHz
,... ......
c
<IJ

....
FIG. 3. Linewidth reduction measured by optical heterodyne technique.
FIG. 2. Effect of optical feedback. Absorption of laser light by cesium These two traces were taken with a rf spectrum analyzer and indicate a
vapor is recorded as the injection current is scanned up and down (lj.i/i reduction in beatnote linewidth from 40 MHz (trace A) to 130 kHz
= 3 X 10- J}. This figure shows the locking effect of optical feedback. (trace 13).
The spectrum exhibits a flat region where the absorption remains constant
(the laser frequency remains constant) despite the continuous linear in- structures, the laser was actively stabilized to an atomic
jection current scan (20 ms for the entire sweep). resonance by mounting one of the mirrors on a piezoelec-
tric translator (PZT) and constructing an automatic fre-
magnitude of allowable current and temperature fluctua- quency control (AFe) loop. The frequency error signal
tions can be obtained with the knowledge that the laser was obtained as follows. Saturation spectroscopy was per-
frequency changes at the rate - 27.1 GHz/K and - 3.2 formed in order to resolve the cesium hyperfine lines. A
GHz/mA. Hence for a typical locking bandwidth of 500 sman sinusoidal modulation was applied to the piezoelec-
MHz, temperature fluctuations must not exceed a few mil- tric translator upon which M2 was mounted. This gave rise
lidegrees and the injection current must be stabiiized at the
micro amp level. We have constructed temperature and
current servos that achieve this level of stability. Their
performance was verified by monitoring the frequency of a >'5 0.5 1
free-running laser (no optical feedback) using the cesium
absorption line. The laser frequency was tuned to the steep
'-"

~ 0.0
,-a",b~ i\"\" \1\ e~ r\,.
edge of the Doppler-broadened line formed by transitions
from the 62Sl/2F = 4 ground state of cesium. The absorp-
tion of laser light by the atomic vapor was recorded as the
laser was allowed to run without adjustment. After cali-
Z
c;,
....
'Jl
~
o~
~
-0.5

-1.0

-1.5
\

1"2S0MHz~:
" V\~
d \1
~

brating the slope of this frequency discriminator we found ~ -2,0

that the laser center frequency experienced short term fluc- -Frequency
tuations of ::::: 50 MHz superimposed on a long- term drift (a)

/LI
of ;:::3 MHz/min. For periods of less than 2 h, these fre- 400
quency excursions were well within the 500 MHz locking ~
Q
." 200
bandwidth of the external-cavity laser described above. Q 950kH'
In conjunction with the current and temperature sta- b (I

bilization, the confocal Fabry-Perot resonator was used as

-S
an optical feedback element to reduce the laser linewidth
'-'
_ -200
~
I:
r
AFC Enabled
and provide a tuning mechanism. To determine the mag- .!!P ·400
en
nitude of linewidth reduction achieved, two external-cavity !..
Q
:..
lasers were constructed in order to perform optical hetero- !..
~ -800
dyne detection, Figure 3 shows the beat note of the two 0 106 200
lasers on an rf spectrum analyzer. The broad spectrum was Time (sec)
obtained when the two lasers were not optically locked to (b)
their confocal Fabry-Perot cavities. When the two lasers FIG. 4. (a) Open-loop frequency error signal (lock-in output, see Fig. 1)
were each locked to independent cavities, the narrow spec- is recorded as the laser frequency is scanned across transitions from the
cesium 62S\/2F = 4 ground state. The labeled zero crossings correspond to
trum was obtained. The width of the beat note spectrum
the cesium principal resonances (pr) and crossover resonances (cr) ob-
was reduced from 40 MHz to 130 kHz. When optically served in saturation spectroscopy. For crossover resonances, line center is
locked, the laser linewidths were limited by the differential halfway between the two levels given for p, (a) pr F= 4~P = 5;
stability of the Fabry-Perot cavities of both lasers. (Lock- (0) cr F=4~F=4,5; (e) er F=4.F'= 3,5; (d) pr F=4~F'=4;
(e) cr F=4-F' =3,4. The separation of (cl and Cd) is 25 MHz. (b) The
ing to adjacent longitudinal modes of a single cavity gave a error signal is displayed under open and closed loop conditions. At t = 90
heterodyne signal of linewidth 50 kHz,) s the AFe loop is closed nulling the error signaL Residual fluctuations are
Given the inherent lack of stability of most cavity 10 kHz peak to peak.

2182 AppL Phys. Lett, Vol, 57, No. 21,19 November 1990 Lee et al. 2182

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to a modulati.on of the laser frequency, and therefore, to because it represents the second harmonic of 1.56 p." a
the saturated absorption signal from photodetector D t • De- wavelength utilized in fiber optic communication systems.
modulation of the absorption signal with a lock-in ampli- In conclusion, a hybrid optical/electronic stabilization
fier produced a signed error signal that was proportional to technique has been demonstrated. Once the laser's temper-
the first derivative of the cesium spectrum. 7 Figure 4(a) ature and injection current were reasonably well stabilized,
shows the error signal as the laser was scanned across tran- optical feedback from a confocal Fabry-Perot cavity was
sitions from the 6 2SI/2F = 4- ground state. The scan width used to reduce the laser's linewidth. Long-term frequency
was greater than the locking bandwidth so the laser's in- stability was achieved using an automatic frequency con-
jection current was swept synchronously with the locking trol loop incorporating the sub-Doppler spectrum of ce-
cavity. The optically locked laser was then tuned near the sium vapor.
We would like to acknowledge the assistance of Leo
crossover resonance between the 62Sl/2F = 4- ground state
Hollberg in setting up the optical feedback system. This
and the 62p3/2F = 4 and F= 5 excited states. Figure 4(b)
work was funded by the Venture Research Unit of British
shows the effect upon the error signal of closing the fre-
Petrolium.
quency control loop. Once the slope of the error signal was
calibrated, we found that the servo limited frequency ex-
cursions to ± 10 kHz as measured inside the servo loop. 1M. Ohtsu, J. LightWliW Techno!. 6, 245 (1988).
Absolute stability with an independent reference ',vas not 2c. J. Nielsen and J. H. Osmundsen, Electron. Lett. 19, 644 (1983).
38. Saito, O. Nilsson, and Y. Yamamoto, IEEE J. Quantum Electron.
investigated. Although our discussion has centered on QE-!!!, 1712 (1982).
work near the cesium transition at 850 nm, we have ob- 4M. It() and T. Kimura, IEEE J. Quantum Electron. QF;·16, 69 (1980).
5 n. Dahmani, L Hollberg, and R. Drul1inger, Opt. Lett. 12. 876 (1987).
tained similar results with AIGaAs lasers around the 780 6R. Li and H. R. Telle, IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 25, 257 (1989).
nm transition of rubidium. This wavelength is significant i A. J. Wallard, J. Physics E 5,926 (1972).

2183 Appl. Phys. Lett, Vol. 57, No. 21, 19 November 1990 Lee ef al. 2183

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