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Updated: Jun 14, 2026

Construction and Characterization of External Cavity Diode Lasers for Atomic Physics

Construction and Characterization of External Cavity Diode Lasers for Atomic Physics

Published on: April 24, 2014

Tunable terahertz quantum cascade lasers with external gratings.

Alan Wei Min Lee¹, Benjamin S Williams, Sushil Kumar

¹Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. awmlee@mit.edu

|April 6, 2010

Summary

We developed a tunable terahertz quantum cascade laser using a silicon lens and external grating. This system achieves wide frequency tuning for advanced terahertz applications.

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Area of Science:

Optics and Photonics
Quantum Electronics
Terahertz Science

Background:

Terahertz quantum cascade lasers (TQCLs) are crucial for spectroscopy and imaging.
Achieving wide and tunable frequency output from TQCLs remains a challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

To demonstrate a frequency-tunable external cavity TQCL.
To enhance beam quality and enable frequency selection for TQCLs.

Main Methods:

Utilized an abutted antireflection-coated silicon lens for facet reflection reduction and beam forming.
Employed an external grating for frequency-selective optical feedback.
Angle tuning of the grating to select specific laser modes.

Main Results:

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Achieved discontinuous frequency tuning over a 165 GHz range around 4.4 THz.

Demonstrated another device with 145 GHz total tuning and 9 GHz continuous tuning near longitudinal modes.

Conclusions:

The developed external cavity design enables effective frequency tuning of TQCLs.
The silicon lens and grating combination offers a robust method for mode selection and beam control in the terahertz spectrum.