Patent ID: 6993051

Claim:
An external cavity laser system, comprising: a laser cavity; a light source that provides light to said laser cavity; an in-line optical filter, within said laser cavity, which filters said light within said laser cavity; and a reflection suppressor, within said laser cavity, which suppresses back-reflected light within said laser cavity while allowing light to resonate within said laser cavity; wherein said reflection suppressor includes: a polarizer, within said laser cavity, which polarizes the light within said laser cavity; and polarization rotators, within said laser cavity, which rotate the polarization state of the light such that said polarizer suppresses back-reflected light; wherein said polarizer is a first polarizer for suppressing back-reflected light in a first direction from said in-line optical filter, and further including: a second polarizer for suppressing light back-reflected in a second direction from said in-line optical filter.