Frequency stabilization of a cw dye laser

Abstract

A cw dye laser system frequency stabilized to a high-finesse optical reference cavity is described. Laser frequency is servo controlled to the cavity resonance with residual fluctuations less than 50 kHz for short times (20 μsec) and 100 Hz for long times (10 sec). Drift in absolute laser frequency of about 1.5 MHz/min is observed due to drift of the unstabilized reference cavity. A saturated absorption spectrum of I2 obtained with this system is shown.