Patent · US Expired

Electro-optical device comprising a controlled laser diode

US5668826A · kind A · utility

12Cited by
8References
19Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMar 6, 1996
Grant dateSep 16, 1997
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 6, 2016

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH01S5/02415
  • WIPO fieldOptics
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

The laser diode (11) of the electro-optical device (10) is frequency-controlled with the aid of a control module (40) comprising a rubidium cell (41) and an optical sensor (42), as well as a further module (43) for controlling the injection current and/or the temperature of the laser diode. A controlling light beam (18) is conveyed by means of a multi-mode optical fiber (14) to the rubidium cell. The optical sensor measures the intensity of the light beam transmitted by the rubidium cell and supplies a signal used by the further module for regulating the injection current and/or the temperature of the laser diode so as to stabilize the frequency of the light (16) emitted. The optical fiber is coupled to the laser module in such a way as to collect part of the light (16, 21) emitted by the front face of the laser diode and reflected by a lens (12) in front of the laser diode. The diode-lens assembly is heat controlled. Feedback in the laser diode and the power supplied to the laser diode are reduced, and the control device is simplified. The device finds application particularly in interferometry, atomic frequency oscillators, spectroscopy, and fiber optics data transmission.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.