Final report on LDRD project : narrow-linewidth VCSELs for atomic microsystems.

Chow, Weng Wah ; Geib, Kent Martin ; Peake, Gregory Merwin ; Serkland, Darwin Keith

Sandia National Laboratories

关键词: Atomic Beams;    Quality Factor;    Atoms;    Optimization;    71 Classical And Quantum Mechanics, General Physics;   

DOI  :  10.2172/1029777
RP-ID  :  SAND2011-7089
RP-ID  :  AC04-94AL85000
RP-ID  :  1029777

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

Vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) are well suited for emerging photonic microsystems due to their low power consumption, ease of integration with other optical components, and single frequency operation. However, the typical VCSEL linewidth of 100 MHz is approximately ten times wider than the natural linewidth of atoms used in atomic beam clocks and trapped atom research, which degrades or completely destroys performance in those systems. This report documents our efforts to reduce VCSEL linewidths below 10 MHz to meet the needs of advanced sub-Doppler atomic microsystems, such as cold-atom traps. We have investigated two complementary approaches to reduce VCSEL linewidth: (A) increasing the laser-cavity quality factor, and (B) decreasing the linewidth enhancement factor (alpha) of the optical gain medium. We have developed two new VCSEL devices that achieved increased cavity quality factors: (1) all-semiconductor extended-cavity VCSELs, and (2) micro-external-cavity surface-emitting lasers (MECSELs). These new VCSEL devices have demonstrated linewidths below 10 MHz, and linewidths below 1 MHz seem feasible with further optimization.