Intelligent and automatic laser frequency locking system using pattern recognition technology

Abstract

This paper reports on an experimental realization of an automatic laser locking scheme using the artificial intelligence algorithm. We design a classifier based on the support vector machine to recognize the pattern of the saturated absorption spectroscopy signal of a laser and to locate its lockable points. We experimentally investigated our intelligent locking scheme on an external-cavity-diode-laser (ECDL) at 780 nm through the rubidium (Rb) cell and Rb saturated absorption lines. Test results show that the laser frequency can be automatically locked or relocked to the desired point within 11.6 s, either from free running state or from unlocked state, where the entire locking and relocking process is managed by the machine itself rather than human operations. The intelligent method reported in this paper provides a robust and smart solution for laser locking in unmanned conditions, e.g., space-borne experiments.