FREQUENCY LOCKING OF A PULSED SINGLE-LONGITUDINAL-MODE LASER IN A COUPLED-CAVITY RESONATOR

The performance of a novel resonator that couples a grazing-incidence and a Linear cavity is reported. The coupling secures single-longitudi nal mode, TEM00, higher-efficiency and lower-threshold operation. By u se of Ti:sapphire as the gain medium, a slope efficiency of 23% and a 100-nm tuning range are reported. A model is explained that fully pred icts the mode behavior of the resonator and that can be used to optimi ze the cavity for single-mode operation. We have developed computer co ntrol of the cavity, which is simple in design and is used to lock the <200-MHz bandwidth mode to +/-40 MHz. A 4.8-GHz scan has also been de monstrated. (C) 1997 Optical Society of America.