Seed Lasers

Author: the photonics expert Dr. Rüdiger Paschotta

Definition: lasers which are used for generating some seed light into an amplifier or another laser

More general term: lasers

Opposite term: slave lasers

Categories: article belongs to category laser devices and laser physics laser devices and laser physics, article belongs to category optical amplifiers optical amplifiers

DOI: 10.61835/fr7 Cite the article: BibTex plain text HTML

A seed laser is a laser the output which is injected into some optical amplifier or another laser. This is done in, e.g., the following situations:

A seed laser combined with an amplifier forms a master oscillator power amplifier configuration, used for generating an output with high power. Compared with an approach with a single high-power laser, it is easier to obtain certain features with a low-power seed laser, e.g. single-frequency operation with narrow linewidth, a wide wavelength tuning range or the generation of ultrashort pulses.
Instead of injection into an amplifier, a single-frequency seed beam can be sent into another laser (slave laser) or into an optical parametric oscillator in order to achieve narrowband emission via injection seeding. It is sometimes possible even to achieve injection locking, where the emitted frequency exactly equals the seed frequency, and the laser noise may be close to that of the seed laser.

Typical types of seed lasers are small laser diodes (single-frequency or gain-switched), short-cavity fiber lasers, and miniature solid-state lasers such as nonplanar ring oscillators (NPROs).

More to Learn

Encyclopedia articles:

Suppliers

The RP Photonics Buyer's Guide contains 26 suppliers for seed lasers. Among them:

MPB Communications

MPBC manufactures a line of short-cavity single-frequency seed lasers which can emit from 1013 nm to 1110 nm with an output power up to 50 mW. With the Resonant Second Harmonic Generator, we can achieve an output power of up to 10 W in the visible band. The SCFL can be sold separately or as part of a package including our WaveLock box, Resonant Second-Harmonic Generator, and Raman Fiber Amplifier. MPBC also offers a line of fiber-coupled, compact single frequency lasers, which are ideal solutions for scientific and industrial applications. Exhibiting extremely low noise and highly stable operation, the SFFL Series lasers offer output wavelengths ranging from 1230 nm to 1320 nm; with the option of frequency doubling into the 615 nm to 660 nm range. The all-fiber architecture eliminates the need for system/cavity alignment and provides for unprecedented wavelength and output power stability; ensuring diffraction-limited linearly polarized output.

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