Pulsed light power stabilization of a semiconductor laser using a mixed analog-digital method with an acousto-optic modulator

Abstract

Diffraction beams produced by an acousto-optic modulator are widely used in various optical experiments, some of which need to modulate the radio-frequency drive signal to change the diffraction beams from continuous light to pulsed light. The generation of such pulsed light is open-loop, and long-term stability of the power is disregarded. In this paper, we introduce a method to suppress the pulsed light power drift of a semiconductor laser. By using the servo system, the low frequency power drift of 1–60 kHz pulsed light can be suppressed. This pulsed light power stabilization method can be applied to optical rotation detection and pulse pumping.