Sub-kHz-linewidth VECSELs for cold atom experiments

We report and characterize sub-kHz linewidth operation of an AlGaInP-based VECSEL system suitable for addressing the narrow cooling transition of neutral strontium atoms at 689 nm. When frequency-stabilized to a standard air-spaced Fabry-Perot cavity (finesse 1000) via the Pound-Drever-Hall (PDH) technique, it delivers output power >150 mW in a circularly-symmetric single transverse mode with low frequency and intensity noise. The optical field was reconstructed from the frequency noise error signal via autocorrelation and the Wiener-Khintchine theorem, leading to an estimated linewidth of (125 ± 2) Hz. Optical beat note measurements were performed against a commercial locked laser system and a second, almost identical, VECSEL system resulting in linewidths of 200 Hz and 160 Hz FWHM, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of a VECSEL compatible with the narrowest of lines (few hundred Hz) used for cooling and trapping atoms and ions.