Abstract
We have implemented a new optical scheme to produce a broadband frequency spectrum with customizable shape and high stability. The scheme consists of the generation of a mode structure by allowing a frequency-stabilized single-mode laser to pass through an acousto-optical modulator working in the Raman–Nath regime. Diffraction yields several diffracted beams, which are shifted in frequency by acoustic waves in the acousto-optical modulator. Then the diffracted beams are merged into one beam by means of a telescope. The scheme has worked in both the visible and the UV: Frequency spectra as wide as with have been achieved, resulting in widths of 225 and 150 MHz for the visible and the UV spectral regions, respectively. The spectra possess the same stability as the primary single-mode laser. Their profiles may exhibit a sharp termination on one side of the spectrum, a feature that allows them to be utilized for high-efficiency laser cooling of an ion beam in a storage ring.
© 2001 Optical Society of America
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