Mode stability of external cavity diode lasers

Mode stability is an important performance characteristic of external cavity diode lasers (ECDLs). It has been well established that the continuous mode-hop-free tuning range of a grating-feedback ECDL can be optimized by rotating the grating about a specific pivot location. We show that similar results can be obtained for other more convenient pivot locations by choosing instead the cavity length and grating location. The relative importance of the temperature stability of the diode and of the external cavity is also evaluated. We show that mechanically simple ECDL designs, using mostly standard components, can readily achieve a 35GHz mode-hop-free tuning range at 780 nm. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America