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Updated: Feb 3, 2026

Construction and Characterization of External Cavity Diode Lasers for Atomic Physics
Published on: April 24, 2014
Directional Bistability and Nonreciprocal Lasing with Cold Atoms in a Ring Cavity
B Megyeri1, G Harvie1, A Lampis1
1School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
We demonstrate lasing into counterpropagating modes of a ring cavity using a gas of cold atoms as a gain medium. The laser operates under the usual conditions of magneto-optical trapping with no additional fields. We characterize the threshold behavior of the laser and measure the second-order optical coherence. The laser emission exhibits directional bistability, switching randomly between clockwise and counterclockwise modes, and a tunable nonreciprocity is observed as the atoms are displaced along the cavity axis.
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