M Squared Lasers Limited

William Miller

Gareth Thomas Maker

Graeme Peter Alexander Malcolm

A laser diode drive system for generating a drive current for a laser diode is described. The laser diode drive system comprises a first laser diode driver connected to the laser diode by a first cable to provide a drive current source for the laser diode. A second laser diode driver is then connected to the laser diode by a second cable to provide a low current sink for the laser diode. A feedback control loop is employed to provide a feedback signal for the second laser diode driver from to sample of an output field of the laser diode. The laser diode drive system exhibits low power consumption while being capable of creating sufficient feedback bandwidth to reduce the excess optical noise by at least an order of magnitude at 1 MHz compared with laser diode drive systems comprising just a first laser diode driver.

Laser diode drive system

A system and method that can be employed to lock and scan the output of a laser cavity () is described. The system and method involves the use of a signal generator for generating an error signal between an output of the laser cavity () and the transmission () of the laser through a tunable external reference cavity (). A dual piezo-actuated mirror () permits processing of the error signal () with separate signal processing circuits () used to provide an electrical feedback signal to the two piezo-electric crystals (). When incorporated within a laser cavity the described system and methodology can be used to lock and scan the output of the laser cavity while providing the laser output with a reduced linewidth.

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Glasgow, United Kingdom

William Miller