Abstract

An external-cavity semiconductor laser has been developed that uses a diffraction grating at grazing incidence for wavelength selection and output coupling. The laser cavity consists of an objective-lens beam expander, grazing-incidence diffraction grating, and end mirror. The output is coupled out through the zero-order reflection from the diffraction grating. One end of the cavity is the rear facet of the diode laser, and the other is the mirror that reflects the first-order reflection of the diffraction grating. This arrangement is similar to the Littman configuration for pulsed dye lasers.

© 1990 Optical Society of America