QUASI MONOLITHIC SINGLE FREQUENCY TITANIUM-DOPED SAPPHIRE RING LASER

RESEARCHERS ARE REPLACING THE SEMICONDUCTOR LASER AS A SOURCE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION LASER SPECTROSCOPY AND HIGH PRECISION ATOMIC CLOCKS WITH A COMPACT, ALL SOLID STATE LASER SOURCE BASED UPON TITANIUM-DOPED SAPPHIRE (TI:S). RECENT SPECTACULAR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE EFFICIENCY AND OUTPUT POWER OF A CONTINUOUS-WAVE FREQUENCY DOUBLED DIODE PUMPED ND:YAG LASER HAS MADE THIS SYSTEM FEASIBLE IN THE NEAR TERM, WITH ATTRACTIVE OVER-ALL WALL PLUG EFFICIENCY. THEIR QUASI MONOLITHIC SINGLE FREQUENCY TI:S LASER IS APPROXIMATELY THE SAME SIZE AS A STABILIZED SINGLE MODE DIODE LASER SYSTEM, BUT IT IS INTRINSICALLY FREQUENCY STABLE, DRAMATICALLY REDUCING THE COMPLEXITY AND INCREASING THE RELIABILITY OF THE ACTIVE STABILIZATION SYSTEM. IT WILL BE AN IDEAL SOURCE FOR THE NEXT GENERATION OF ATOMIC CLOCKS AND OTHER FREQUENCY STANDARDS.