Extended cavity diode laser master-oscillator-power-amplifier for operation of an iodine frequency reference on a sounding rocket

We present a hybrid microintegrated diode laser module developed for iodine spectroscopy on board a sounding rocket. The laser module is based on a master-oscillator-power-amplifier concept: an extended cavity diode laser serves as the master oscillator, and a ridge-waveguide semiconductor optical amplifier provides the power boost. The module’s form factor and mass correspond to 12.5 × 7.5 × 2.3 c m 3 and 750 g, respectively. With an electrical power of 3.75 W supplied to the module, 570 mW of optical power is provided out of a polarization maintaining optical fiber at 1064.490 nm with a technical linewidth of 13 kHz (55 kHz) at a 1 ms (10 ms) time scale. The laser module has successfully passed vibration tests at a level of 8.8 g R M S . A nominally identical module has recently been used to demonstrate, for the first time, precision iodine spectroscopy in space.