Slave Laser
Definition: a laser which is injection-locked to another laser
More general term: lasers
Opposite term: master laser
Categories: laser devices and laser physics, optical amplifiers
Author: Dr. Rüdiger Paschotta
A slave laser is a laser which emits on an optical frequency which is dictated by an external master laser (seed laser) via injection locking. Typically, the seed laser is a low-noise single-frequency laser, and the slave laser is a high-power laser. An electronic servo system is usually used to keep the frequency of a resonator mode of the slave laser close enough to the frequency of the master laser to allow for frequency locking.
With the master laser removed or turned off, the high-power laser would typically not even emit on a single frequency, or at least with a much higher intensity and phase noise. Injection locking makes it easier to achieve good noise properties, comparing with the attempt of directly obtaining low-noise performance of a high-power laser. It is also possible to drive multiple slave lasers with a single master laser.
A possible alternative would be to simply use an optical amplifier, but particularly with high-power amplifiers it is often difficult to achieve as much gain as with injection looking. Also, the noise properties can be substantially better with injection looking.
See also: injection locking, stabilization of lasers, frequency-stabilized lasers, master laser
Questions and Comments from Users
Here you can submit questions and comments. As far as they get accepted by the author, they will appear above this paragraph together with the author’s answer. The author will decide on acceptance based on certain criteria. Essentially, the issue must be of sufficiently broad interest.
Please do not enter personal data here; we would otherwise delete it soon. (See also our privacy declaration.) If you wish to receive personal feedback or consultancy from the author, please contact him, e.g. via e-mail.
By submitting the information, you give your consent to the potential publication of your inputs on our website according to our rules. (If you later retract your consent, we will delete those inputs.) As your inputs are first reviewed by the author, they may be published with some delay.
Share this with your friends and colleagues, e.g. via social media:
These sharing buttons are implemented in a privacy-friendly way!