STABLE SINGLE-FREQUENCY OPERATION OF A HIGH-POWER EXTERNAL-CAVITY TAPERED DIODE-LASER AT 780 NM

We report on grating-tuned tapered lasers that oscillate on a single e xternal-cavity mode at powers as high as 720 mW. Frequency stabilizati on and side-mode discrimination are achieved through the use of an int racavity etalon. The emission frequency was stabilized against mode ho ps for a period of >2000s and exhibited a short term jitter of similar to 85 MHz over a period of 300 s. The single-frequency emission was t unable over a 17 nm range centered at 783 nm. Furthermore, the far-fie ld emission remained near-diffraction limited throughout the measured current range (< 2 A). (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.