Creation of arbitrary spectra with an acousto-optic modulator and an injection-locked diode laser

We use a double-passed acousto-optic modulator (AOM), driven by an arbitrary waveform generator to produce multiple frequency components for a laser with arbitrary frequency spacings. A programmed sequence containing various sections of radio-frequency sinusoidal signal at different frequency is applied to drive the AOM. The diffracted light is used to injection-lock a diode laser. The combined techniques allow us to generate the multi-line spectra for the diode laser with arbitrary frequency spacings in the range of 100 MHz at a relatively high output power of 80 mW and a small power variation of 2%. Such a light source can be used in the application for laser cooling of molecules.