Frequency locking of a pulsed single-longitudinal-mode laser in a coupled-cavity resonator

The performance of a novel resonator that couples a grazing-incidence and a linear cavity is reported. The coupling secures single-longitudinal mode, TEM(00), higher-efficiency and lower-threshold operation. By use of Ti:sapphire as the gain medium, a slope efficiency of 23% and a 100-nm tuning range are reported. A model is explained that fully predicts the mode behavior of the resonator and that can be used to optimize the cavity for single-mode operation. We have developed computer control of the cavity, which is simple in design and is used to lock the <200-MHz bandwidth mode to +/-40 MHz. A 4.8-GHz scan has also been demonstrated.