Tapered-amplified antireflection-coated laser diodes for potassium and rubidium atomic-physics experiments

We present a system of room-temperature extended-cavity grating-diode lasers for production of light in the range of 760–790nm. The extension of the tuning range towards the blue is permitted by the weak feedback in the cavity: the diodes are antireflection coated, and the grating has just 10% reflectance. The light is then amplified using semiconductor tapered amplifiers to give more than 400mW of power. The outputs are shown to be suitable for atomic-physics experiments with potassium (767nm), rubidium (780nm), or both, of particular relevance to doubly degenerate boson-fermion mixtures.