A Faraday laser lasing on Rb 1529 nm transition

Abstract

Abstract We present the design and performance characterization of a Faraday laser directly lasing on the Rb 1529 nm transition (Rb, 5P 3/2 − 4D 5/2) with high stability, narrow spectral linewidth and low cost. This system does not need an additional frequency-stabilized pump laser as a prerequisite to preparing Rb atom from 5S to 5P excited state. Just by using a performance-improved electrodeless discharge lamp-based excited-state Faraday anomalous dispersion optical filter (LESFADOF), we realized a heterogeneously Faraday laser with the frequency corresponding to atomic transition, working stably over a range of laser diode (LD) current from 85 mA to 171 mA and the LD temperature from 11 °C to 32 °C, as well as the 24-hour long-term frequency fluctuation range of no more than 600 MHz. Both the laser linewidth and relative intensity noisy (RIN) are measured. The Faraday laser lasing on Rb 1529 nm transition (telecom C-band) can be applied to further research on metrology, microwave photonics and optical communication systems. Besides, since the transitions correspongding to the populated excited-states of alkali atoms within lamp are extraordinarily rich, this scheme can increase the flexibility for choosing proper wavelengths for Faraday laser and greatly expand the coverage of wavelength corresponding to atomic transmission for laser frequency stabilization.