Physicists figured out how to reduce the cost of laser systems dozens of times

An international team of scientists from Russia, the UAE and China analyzed many disparate technologies

laser frequency stabilization.A study published in the journal Frontiers of Physics found that by using the pull-in effect, it is possible to improve the stability of a low-cost diode laser to that of its expensive fiber counterparts.

Lasers are widely used in variousareas: in medical devices, in industrial production and in scientific research. At the same time, modern semiconductor lasers have an important drawback: the inevitable frequency fluctuation leads to the fact that the laser beam is not always stable, and therefore is not suitable for all tasks.

In their work, physicists analyzed manyresearch, theoretical and experimental solutions aimed at eliminating this shortcoming. The analysis showed that using the diode laser pulling effect, it is possible to eliminate spurious oscillations in semiconductor lasers without significant costs. 

The drag effect is a processat which the noise of laser radiation is suppressed, and the width of the radiation line is narrowed - as a result, the laser becomes more stable. Physicists have shown that a classical semiconductor laser that uses the pulling effect achieves a linewidth and noise level comparable to expensive fiber lasers.

The approaches described in our work openunique prospects for the development of compact nanophotonic and quantum devices that have a huge number of applications both in industry and in fundamental research, and will also make such devices more commercially available.

Dmitry Chermoshentsev, senior researcher at the Russian Quantum Center, junior researcher at Skoltech, co-author of the study

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