Littrow configuration tunable external cavity diode laser with fixed direction output beam

We have developed an enhanced Littrow configuration extended cavity diode laser (ECDL) that can be tuned without changing the direction of the output beam. The output of a conventional Littrow ECDL is reflected from a plane mirror fixed parallel to the tuning diffraction grating. Using a free-space Michelson wavemeter to measure the laser wavelength, we can tune the laser over a range greater than 10 nm without any alteration of alignment. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.