Single-frequency CW Ti:sapphire laser with intensity noise manipulation and continuous frequency-tuning

We present a tunable single-frequency CW Ti:sapphire laser with intensity noise manipulation. The manipulation of the laser intensity noise is realized by varying the frequency of the modulation signal loaded on the electrodes of an intracavity electro-optic etalon. A lithium niobate (LiNbO3) crystal is used to act as the electro-optic etalon, and its electro-optic effect is utilized to modulate the intracavity laser intensity for locking itself to the oscillating wavelength of the laser to implement continuous frequency-tuning. When the electro-optic etalon is locked to the oscillating mode of the Ti: sapphire laser with arbitrarily selected modulation frequency, the maximal continuous frequency-tuning range can reach to 20 GHz, and the laser intensity noise is successfully manipulated simultaneously. (C) 2016 Optical Society of America