Compact and inexpensive frequency stabilization technique for 850-nm vertical cavity surface emitting lasers based on Fabry-Perot resonator

Yukio Miura; Jun Nakajima; Kouki Mizutani; Wakao Sasaki

doi:10.1117/12.735129

12 September 2007 Compact and inexpensive frequency stabilization technique for 850-nm vertical cavity surface emitting lasers based on Fabry-Perot resonator

Yukio Miura, Jun Nakajima, Kouki Mizutani, Wakao Sasaki

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 6673, Time and Frequency Metrology; 66730T (2007) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.735129
Event: Optical Engineering + Applications, 2007, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

We have demonstrated a compact and inexpensive frequency stabilization technique for commercially available 1mW, 850nm vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) using a Fabry-Perrot cavity as frequency standard. Recently VCSEL has been widely prevailed for uses of low cost and small sized sensors, since it may afford low power operations and manufacturing costs in comparison with edge emitting type Fabry-Perrot laser diodes. Therefore, a highly versatile and inexpensive frequency stabilized coherent light source which can be mass producible will be available if the frequency stabilization for this type of VCSEL's is carried out. Generally, it has been commonly accepted that a satisfactory degree of coherence may be easily obtained from VCSEL's without any additional frequency stabilization technique since highly reflective coatings are to be put on their laser cavity edges. Nevertheless, some VCSEL devices, especially inexpensive type commercial products show multi-mode behaviors along with polarization instabilities. In the present work, as a simple and inexpensive approach to commercially available VCSEL devices, we have demonstrated a frequency stabilization scheme using a Fabry-Perrot cavity. The error signal was derived by phase sensitive detection for the transmitted light from the Fabry-Perrot resonator. Thus, the lasing frequency of the VCSEL was locked to the zero-crossing of the error signal by negative feedback for injection current via a PID controller. As a result, we have successfully suppressed the amount of frequency fluctuations in the free-running VCSEL of as much as 2GHz to be within 500MHz at measuring time of 30sec, that is, the attained Allan variance is 4.1×10E-8.

Citation Download Citation

Yukio Miura, Jun Nakajima, Kouki Mizutani, and Wakao Sasaki "Compact and inexpensive frequency stabilization technique for 850-nm vertical cavity surface emitting lasers based on Fabry-Perot resonator", Proc. SPIE 6673, Time and Frequency Metrology, 66730T (12 September 2007); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.735129

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available