Surface-emitting external cavity laser device
AssigneeKoninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
InventorsJohannes Baier, Holger Moench
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Abstract
A surface-emitting extended cavity laser with intracavity frequency conversion is provided with at least one surface-emitting laser element with multiple layers to obtain laser light at a fundamental frequency, reflector means, spaced from the laser element to form an external cavity, a frequency conversion device, arranged within the external cavity to generate light at a second frequency and tunable optical band-pass filter means, arranged within the external cavity and detector means, where said optical band-pass filter means are tunable upon a signal, which is obtained by the detector means to enable a frequency control at the fundamental frequency.
Claims20
A surface-emitting external cavity laser device with intracavity frequency conversion comprising:
- at least one surface-emitting laser element with multiple layers, comprising at least one gain layer and a reflective layer arranged to obtain laser light at a fundamental frequency;
- reflector means, spaced from the surface-emitting laser element to form an external cavity;
- a frequency conversion device, arranged within the external cavity to generate light at a second frequency different from the fundamental frequency, the frequency conversion device comprising a first element and a second element spaced apart on an optical axis of the laser element, the first and second elements having opposing surfaces provided with a coating;
- and
- tunable optical band-pass filter means integrally formed with the frequency conversion device, arranged within the external cavity,
- wherein the band-pass filter means are tunable by varying a distance between the opposing surface of the first and second elements based upon a signal generated by detector means.
A surface-emitting external cavity laser device with intracavity frequency conversion comprising:
- a surface-emitting laser element comprising at least one gain layer and a reflective layer arranged to obtain laser light at a fundamental frequency;
- a reflector spaced from the surface-emitting laser element to form an external cavity;
- a frequency conversion device, arranged within the external cavity to generate light at a second frequency different from the fundamental frequency, the frequency conversion device comprising a first element and a second element spaced apart on an optical axis of the laser element, wherein the first and second elements have opposing surfaces provided with a coating that is reflective at the fundamental frequency, forming a tunable band-pass filter;
- a detector for detecting light at the second frequency;
- and
- an actuator for tuning the band-pass filter based upon a signal generated by the detector.
A Fabry-Perot interferometer device formed in an external cavity of a surface-emitting external cavity laser device, the external cavity being formed by a reflector spaced apart from a surface-emitting laser that emits light at a fundamental frequency, the Fabry-Perot interferometer device comprising:
- a first element configured to convert the light at the fundamental frequency to light at a second frequency, the first element having a first surface provided with a coating;
- and
- a second element spaced apart from the first element on an optical axis of the laser, the second element having a second surface opposing the first surface of the first element and provided with the coating,
- wherein a distance between first and second surfaces of the first and second elements is variable in a direction parallel to the optical axis of the laser for tuning a band-pass frequency of the Fabry-Perot interferometer in response to detected power of the light at the second frequency.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.