Tiger (Littrow)
Tunable External Cavity Diode Laser
Tapered Amplifier Technology
Littrow Configuration

Scientific Lasers

TEC 300

Vorsprung durch Innovation

Tapered Laser DiodeConcepts, an Overview
Tapered Laser

TaperedSingle Mode
Waveguide Waveguide

The maximum output power of diodelasers is limited by the mirror facets ofthe laser chip. A very successful
concept for improving the output powerof diode lasers is the tapered laser
diode. A tapered laser consists of twosegments. The right hand segment isrealized by a single mode waveguidefor achieving propper single modeemission. The left hand side is atapered waveguide for boosing themaximum output power from typically
200mW up to more than 1000mW.

Littrow Design

Pivot Pointx2
x1

Grating

TEC-300

Laser

Sacher Lasertechnik realized an
external cavity diode laser basing on
tapered lasers. The laser system bases
on more than 10 years of experience inmanufacturing external cavity laser
diodes. The external cavity is realizedwith class D anti-reflection coatedtapered diode lasers and with a highefficiency diffraction grating. The
output power is coupled out via therear facet. This results in the best
performance for an external cavity
diode laser system in Littrow
configuration. Several patentapplications are pending. Typicalpower values range between 500mW
and 1000mW, depending on thewavelength. This laser design isavailable by model no. TEC-300.

Technical Realization
Dimensions
TEC-300

The drawing on the left hand side
show the technical realization and thedimensions of the TEC-300 external
cavity diode laser system. It includes
an 35dB optical isolator by default.

Literature
We offer reprints on several publications which have been publishedby Sacher Lasertechnik on thisconcept:
http://www.sacher-laser.com/pubdocs2.php

Key Features of ourTapered Littrow Laser SystemSide Mode Supression
10Signal [dB]0-10-20

Beam Quality

57 dB-30-40-50-60
779

780

781

782

783

Wavelength [nm]Typical Values:
Power: > 1000 mW
M 2 = 1.4 in both directions

High passive stability
Realizing the pivot axis of the tuning grating and the cavity adjustement via flex-mounts
ensures the highest passive stability of our Littrow laser system. As a result, we achieve arobust and highly stable external cavity diode laser system with excellent values for the longterm laser linewidth.

Option: Single-mode fiber coupling
Due to the excellent mechanical stability of our Littrow laser system, we are able to perform
high efficiency fiber coupling with coupling efficiencies between 40% and 70% into singlemode polarization maintaning optical fibers. 60 dBOptical isolators and angled fiberconnectors (FC/APC couplers) are available upon request.

Specifications: http://www.sacher-laser.com/ta_specs.php
Output Power500 .. 1000 mW *Wavelength

765, 780, 785, 795, 850, 970,1060 nm or Customer Specified

Wavelength Precision

0.05 nm

Piezo Fine Tuning

100 GHz .. 150 GHz @ 100 V Piezo Voltage *Mode-hop Free Tuning

up to 30 GHz

Piezo Fine Tuning Speed> 0.5 kHz Modulation Frequency @ 10 GHz Amplitude

Linewidth

1 MHz @ 1 ms

Side Mode Supression> 50 dB

Beam Waist (2 w0)

3 mm x 1.5 mm .. 1.5 mm x 1.5 mm *Beam Divergence< 2 mradBeam Quality M

2or Customer Specified< 1.7

Output Polarization

P - Polarized or S - Polarized *Power MonitorPhoto Diode

WeightLaser Head: 0.6 kg, Power Supply: 4.5 kg

Laser Head Dimension (width x heigh x length)

83 mm x 81 mm x 320 mm* the actual value depends on the chosen wavelength

Intensity / a.u.

3 GHz

Rubidium D2

purethermal
cloud

6.8 GHztwocomponents
cloud

pureBEC

Frequency / a.u.

Application Example
Optical Cooling and Trapping: Formation of BEC
Optical cooling and trapping requires highly stable, narrow linewidth, high power,
tunable laser systems. Our TIGER external cavity laser diode system was speciallydesigned for fulfilling these requirements. The left hand side of the graphic shows
the D2 absorption lines of Rubidium. The blue curve represents the Doppler
enhanced signal, the red curve represents the saturated absorption signal. The righthand side of the graphic shows the temporal development of BEC within amagneto-optical trap (MOT). The signal the left hand side indicates the pure thermal
Rubidum cloud within the MOT, the middle signal is an intermediate state, the signal
at the right hand side indicates the formation of Bose-Einstein-Condensate (BEC).
For more details of this experiment, please review the literature section of our website: http://www.sacher-laser.com/PubDocs2.php. We gratefully achnowledge theAMOLF for providing us the BEC data, detected with the TIGER laser system.

About Sacher Lasertechnik
Company ProfileSacher Lasertechnik is leading manufacturer of tunable external cavity diode lasers(ECDLs) with more than 15 years of experience. The product range includes antireflection coated diode lasers, ECDLs in Littrow and in Littman/Metcalf configuration
as well as driver electronics for the LD and sophisticated measuring electronics.
Please contact us with your measurement requirements. We would be proud
to support you with our competence.

Please contact us
Sacher Lasertechnik
GmbHRudolf-Breitscheid Str. 1-5
D-35037 Marburg/Lahn
Germany
Tel.: +49 6421 305 - 0
Fax: +49 6421 305299

Sacher Lasertechnik
LLC
5765 Equador Way
Buena Park, CA90620
U. S. A.
Tel.: 1-800-352-3639
Fax: 1-714-670-7662

Email:contact@sacher-laser.com
Web: http://www.sacher-laser.com