Actively stabilized single-frequency vertical-external-cavity AlGaAs laser

Abstract

We report on actively stabilized single-frequency operation of a vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting semiconductor laser (VECSEL). The VECSEL was locked to a 300-MHz reference cavity allowing a relative frequency measurement that indicated a laser linewidth of 3 kHz. Coarse tuning over an 8.5-nm range was achieved, with fine tuning over 250 MHz. The laser produced up to 42 mW of output power in single-frequency operation.