Servo technique for concurrent wavelength locking and stimulated brillouin scattering suppression

A laser comprising:

• a base;
• a gain medium operatively coupled to the base, having front and rear facets, to produce an optical emission in response to an electrical input;
• a reflective element, operatively coupled to the base, to form a laser cavity having endpoints defined by the front facet of the gain medium and a face of the reflective element;
• an optical path length adjustment element operatively coupled to the base;
• and
• a controller to generate an electrical input comprising first and second excitation signals to the optical path length adjustment element to produce first and second modulations of the overall optical path length of the laser cavity, which induce respective first and second wavelength and intensity modulations in an output of the laser about respective first and second frequencies, the first wavelength and intensity modulation to produce a wavelength locking feedback signal employed by the controller to lock the laser output to a selected channel, the second wavelength and intensity modulation to suppress stimulated Brillouin scattering.

A laser comprising:

• a gain medium to generate an optical emission;
• first and second reflective elements, defining a laser cavity;
• first means for adjusting an overall optical path length of the laser cavity;
• and
• control means for generating a drive signal to the means for adjusting the overall optical path length of the laser cavity to cause first and second modulations in the overall optical path length of the laser cavity to induce first and second wavelength and intensity modulations in an output of the laser about respective first and second frequencies, the first wavelenght and intensity modulation to produce a wavelength locking feedback signal employed by the controller to lock the laser output to a selected channel, the second wavelength and intensity modulation to suppress stimulated Brillouin scattering.