Stress-induced tuning of a diode-laser-excited monolithic Nd:YAG laser

We report the application of a stress-induced change in the cavity of a monolithic Nd:YAG laser as a means for precisely tuning the laser's emission frequency. By using a piezoelectric transducer to vary the applied stress, we can scan the laser emission frequency rapidly and monotonically over as much as 76.5 GHz. As a consequence of the stress-induced birefringence, the device can also be operated simultaneously in two orthogonally polarized modes that exhibit different tuning rates with applied stress.