Patent attributes
The invention relates to an external cavity tunable laser with dual beam outputs. The first laser cavity of the tunable laser comprises a first laser cavity mirror, a laser gain medium, an intracavity collimating lens, an active optical phase modulator, a tunable acousto-optic filter, a tunable Fabry-Perot tunable filter, a second reflection mirror all disposed inside a laser cavity sequentially, and a laser driver and control system. The laser cavity beam reflected by the first laser cavity mirror enters the tunable acousto-optic filter to generate a zeroth order diffracted beam as the first laser output beam. The laser cavity beam reflected by the second laser cavity mirror enters the tunable acousto-optic filter to generate a zeroth order diffracted beam as the second laser output beam. The tunable laser further comprises a wavelength locker outside the laser cavity. The second laser cavity of the tunable laser has a Fabry-Perot etalon disposed in the first laser cavity to further compress the spectrum width of the laser output beams. The invention is compact with high performance without mechanical moving parts, stable laser output, low cost for volume production and installation.
