A self-injected, diode-pumped, solid-state ring laser for laser cooling of Li atoms

Abstract

We have constructed a solid-state light source for experiments with laser cooled lithium atoms based on a Nd:YVO 4 ring laser with second-harmonic generation. Unidirectional lasing, an improved mode selection, and a high output power of the ring laser was achieved by weak coupling to an external cavity which contained the lossy elements required for single frequency operation. Continuous frequency tuning is accomplished by controlling two PZTs in the internal and the external cavities simultaneously. The light source has been utilized to trap and cool fermionic lithium atoms into the quantum degenerate regime.

An injection-locking diode laser at 671 nm with a wide tuning range up to 6 GHz

“…The power can be amplified with a tapered amplifier (TA), but it is still less than 500 mW due to technical reasons. The alternative is based on frequency doubling of a 1342 nm laser that can generate high power up to 2.5 W, [15,16] but it costs more. The objective of this study is to search for an alternative method for the preparation of a highpower, cost-effective laser source at 671 nm.…”