Abstract

The spectral characteristics of laser cavities terminating in a multipass grating interferometer are investigated. It is shown that, in presence of internal apertures, the frequency profile of the intracavity electric field is characterized by a predominant, very narrow single line that can easily be tuned over spectral intervals that are much larger than the interferometer’s free-spectral range. This is a consequence of the combined action of the interferometer and of the intracavity apertures that select both the transverse mode and a restricted portion of the k space. Experimental evaluation of the spectral behavior of a TEA CO₂ laser is reported, and possible application to single-longitudinal-mode operation of broadly tunable lasers is discussed.

© 1987 Optical Society of America

Multipass grating interferometer as output coupler for tunable, single-mode operation of large-bandwidth lasers

G. Giuliani, E. Palange, S. Loreti, and G. Salvetti
Opt. Lett. 10(12) 600-602 (1985)

Multipass grating interferometer applied to line narrowing in excimer lasers

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Observation of strong frequency pulling in resonators employing multipass interferometric output couplers

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Control of intrapulse frequency chirping in long-pulse CO₂ lasers employing perturbation-insensitive optical cavities

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Single-longitudinal-mode operation of a TEA CO₂ laser with a modified Fabry-Perot interferometer

G. Kovar, D. Larouche, M. Piche, and P. A. Belanger
Appl. Opt. 24(21) 3584-3590 (1985)