Widely Tunable Micro-Mechanical External-Cavity Diode Laser Emitting Around 2.1 \mu m

• Published in: IEEE journal of quantum electronics Vol. 44; no. 11; pp. 1071 - 1075
• Main Authors: Geerlings, E., Rattunde, M., Schmitz, J., Kaufel, G., Wagner, J., Blasi, B., Kallweit, D., Zappe, H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.11.2008; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Subjects: Diffraction gratings; Diode lasers; Exact sciences and technology; External cavity; fiber coupled; Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications); Gas lasers; GaSb; infrared diode laser; Laser beams; Laser modes; Laser tuning; Lasers; micro-machined grating; Optical design; Optical waveguides; Optics; Physics; Power generation; Semiconductor lasers; laser diodes; Tunable circuits and devices; tuning range; Diffraction efficiency; Semiconductor lasers; Output power; Infrared laser; tuning range; infrared diode laser; GaSb; micro-machined grating; External cavity; Laser diodes; fiber coupled
• ISSN: 0018-9197; 1558-1713
• DOI: 10.1109/JQE.2008.2001927

A widely tunable (Deltalambda/lambda = 7%) micro-mechanical external cavity GaSb-based diode laser (muECL) emitting around 2.1 mum is presented. A micro-machined grating with a rectangular grating profile, which can be tilted electrostatically, is employed as wavelength selective element within the external cavity using a Littrow configuration. An optimized grating profile leads to a high diffraction efficiency in the -1st diffraction order and therefore to a broad tuning range of 152 nm. The maximum output power of the fiber coupled muECL system varied only moderately between 22 and 10 mW across the tuning range.