A PLATFORM FOR ULTRA-COLD EXTERNAL CAVITY DIODE LASERS

Abstract

We report on the construction of a platform for ultra-cold tuneable external cavity diode laser system working well below the room temperature (-75 0C) under rough vacuum (28mBar). A theoretical procedure is also presented to calculate thermal control parameters including heat transfer rate, thermal isolation and heat dissipation of the system. Temperature tuning capability of the system was examined utilizing a 658nm (AlGaInP) single mode laser diode. With the system designed the temperature dependent tuning range was expended to almost two fold while halving the bandwidth regarding to its room temperature performances.