BROAD TUNING RANGE STABILIZED DIODE LASER SYSTEM

THERE IS A MARKET NEED FOR STABILIZED, TUNABLE DIODES, PROVIDED THE PRINCIPAL ADVANTAGES OF THE LASER DIODE, I.E., LOW COST, COMPACTNESS, AND HIGH RELIABILITY, ARE MAINTAINED. RECENT ADVANCES IN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY HAVE LED TO AN EXPLOSION IN LASER DIODE AVAILABILITY ACROSS A WIDE WAVELENGTH RANGE. THIS SITUATION HAS CREATED A MARKET OPPORTUNITY FOR A PLUG-REPLACEABLE STABILIZED LASER DIODE DEVICE. DEACON RESEARCH HAS ALREADY DEMONSTRATED TUNABLE LASER DIODE SOURCES WITH HIGH STABILITY, COMPACTNESS, AND LOW COST. BY ADDING THE ULTRASTABLE FINE ALIGNMENT UNIT REQUIRED WITH REPLACEABLE SOURCE LASERS, WE WILL EXTEND THE TUNINGRANGE OF A SINGLE SYSTEM TO COVER THE ENTIRE ACCESSIBLE WAVELENGTHRANGE FROM 0.63 TO 2 MICRONS AND BEYOND. OUR PHASE I OBJECTIVE IS TO MODIFY ONE OF OUR STABILIZED PROTOTYPES TO INCLUDE THE ALIGNMENT UNIT, DEMONSTRATE THAT STABILIZED OPERATION CAN BE OBTAINED FOR DIFFERENT DIODES, AND MEASURE ITS VIBRATION RESPONSE SPECTRUM TO EVALUATE ITS STABILITY PERFORMANCE. IN PHASE II, WE WILL INCORPORATE THESE TECHNOLOGIES INTO A BROADLY TUNABLE PACKAGE WHICH CAN BE USED BY NASA FOR A WIDE RANGE OF SPECTROSCOPIC APPLICATIONS.