Patent ID: 8619824
Filing Date: 2013-12-31
Classification: H01S

Abstract:
1. A low white frequency noise tunable semiconductor laser source, comprising: a semiconductor laser assembly comprising at least one single-mode semiconductor laser generating a laser beam having a frequency and a laser tuning mechanism coupled to the at least one single-mode semiconductor laser for tuning the frequency of the laser beam generated thereby over a spectral range of interest, wherein the at least one single-mode semiconductor laser comprises an array of semiconductor laser units, each of said semiconductor laser units having an output frequency within a corresponding limited spectral range such that the limited spectral range of all of said units collectively cover the spectral range of interest, the laser tuning mechanism comprising a selector for selecting an output of one of said units as the laser beam; an optical filter in a path of the laser beam and having multiple spectral features distributed over the entire spectral range of interest, each spectral feature having a narrow spectral range; and a locking mechanism controllable for locking a spectral alignment between the frequency of the laser beam and any selected one of the spectral features of the optical filter.