Vescent Photonics
Precision Electro-Optic and Laser Technologies
2002 Vescent Photonics was founded by Dr. Mike H. Anderson. He is the lead author of „Observation of Bose-Einstein Condensation in Dilute Atomic-Vapor“ (1995).
The focus of Vescent is to develop and manufacture technologies like waveguides, electro-optics, tunable lasers, and electronics for precision laser control.
Applications
- Emerging cold atom science and engineering
- Laser locking and frequency control systems
- Liquid crystal waveguide architecture
- Locking lasers to high-finesse cavities
SLICE Series
SLICE-QTC four-Channel Temperature Controller
- Four independent PID temperature control loops
- 40 W user-routable capacity
- Programmable front-panel I/O
- Auto tuning function
- GUI, serial, or touch screen interface
The SLICE series combines low noice analog circuitry with digital user interface including touch screen and progammable I/O-monitor.
SLICE-DLC Dual-Channel Laser Controller
- Two channels of current control each with two channels of temperature control
- Lowest-noise laser controller commercially available
- Automatic LIV Curve Capture
- Sub-millikelvin temperature stability with properly designed plant
- Hybrid switching/linear power supply accepts all AC line voltages
- High-speed servo and RF inputs
- Current limit and safe turn-on
- High servo and modulation bandwidths
SLICE-OPL Offset Phase Lock Servo
- Offset Phase Locks from 10 MHz to 9.3 GHz
- Touch screen GUI
- No oscilloscope is required to operate!
- Precisely control follower laser frequency while remaining referenced to the primary standard
- Tightly lock ƒCEO and ƒopt or ƒrep for frequency comb stabilization
- User-adjustable servo parameters
- Internal ramp generator
- Fast frequency jumps with feed-forward
- Offset frequency stability determined by reference stability
The SLICE-OPL Offset Phase Lock Servo (OPLS) is designed to precisely control and quickly adjust the frequency detuning between a master and a follower laser. The SLICE-OPL forms a complete offset lock system when combined with the D2-250 Heterodyne Module and D2-260 Beat Note Detector. The D2-250 overlaps the free-space master & follower lasers to generate the optical beat note. It then launches the beat note into a fiber for delivery to the D2-260 where it is down-converted to the RF and then delivered to the SLICE-OPL for processing.
SLICE-DHV Dual-Channel PZT Controller and High Voltage Amplifier
The SLICE-DHV is a low-noise, high-bandwidth amplifier for controlling piezoelectric transducers. Designed for controlling pzt-driven tuning elements in ECDLs and cavity length control systems, it will interface easily with home-built or 3rd-party laser systems allowing optimum control.
- Two channels
- high bandwidth
- Low noise
Applications:
- ECDL tuning & locking
- Repetition rate control
- Fiber stretcher
- Micropositioning
SLICE-DCC Dual-Channel Current Source
- Two independent channels
- Low noise
- High modulation bandwidth
- Automatically adjusting compliance voltage to 12V
- Touch screen control
- Host GUI & API
- Current limit
- Interlock other devices based on temperature control fidelity
SLICE-DCC Dual-Channel Current Controller low-noise current source with megahertz modulation bandwidth
D2-210 Spectroscopy Module
- Configurable for Potassium, Rubidium, or Cesium
- Side or Peak Locking
- Temperature stabilized
- Intensity normalized
- Magnetic shielding
- Terminal or pass-through configuration
- Improved mechanics
- Optional Doppler subtraction and fiber coupling
- 5 MHz loop bandwidth
Absorption cell for use in atomic clocks as saturated absorption high precision frequency reference. The cell is thermal stabilized and magnetically shielded. The unit is compatible to the VP-D2-DBR200 Laser and all driver and loop units of the D2-series.
Servo-Electronics, Laser-Controller
D2-125 High Speed Laser Servo
- Both PZT & Laser Current Feedback
- Double Integrators For Tight Locking
- Peak Lock Option
- Frequency Jumping and Lockup via Computer Control
- Internal Ramp Generator
- High Bandwidth (10 MHz)
- Reconfigurable PI2D Loop Parameters
- Lock Guard & Ramp Centering included on all models
The D2-125 High Speed Laser Servo is an ultra-low noise and broad band control loop. Laser can be looked an absorption lines to serve as an absolute frequency standard. Typical applications are atomic clocks, Pound-Drevel-Hall cavity locking and laser stabilization and control. The D2-125 can also be used to reduce the line width of laser sources to facilitate spectroscopy of single molecules. The included Lock Guard detects when the servo loop filter has gone out of lock and automatically tries to recapture lock.
D2-105 Laser Controller
- Lowest noise current source commercially available
- Two-stage PID temperature control
- High-speed servo and RF inputs
- Current limit and safe turn-on
- High modulation bandwidth
The D2-105 Laser Controller is a precision diode laser current source based on the Libbrecht-Hall circuit. With a current noise density <100 pA/√Hz, the D2-105 has lower noise than any other commercially available laser controller. This ultra-low current noise is ideally suited for use with the D2-125 laser servo. Using the two devices in combination allows the realization of ultra-stable and -narrow lasers.
D2-200 DBR Lasers
- Potassium, Rubidium, and Cesium Wavelengths
- Vibration immune: no moving parts or piezos
- 25 GHz mode hop-free tuning via high-bandwidth injection current
- Optically isolated for spectral purity
- Fiber-coupled configurations
- High-speed modulation
- Up to:
-
- 100 mW at 780, 795, & 828 nm
- 130 mW at 852 nm
- 150 mW at 895 nm
The D2-200 laser module is a complete redesign of our robust Distributed Bragg Reflector (DBR) diode laser. The D2-200 houses a new Virtual Point Source (VPS) DBR laser. The VPS design uses a proprietary lensing system to reduce astigmatism matching the divergence in the fast axis to that of the slow axis. The output is near gaussian with a very low M2.
DBR laser diodes are fabricated with the feedback grating patterned directly adjacent to the gain region of the diode. By virtue of this short cavity with no moving tuning element, they are highly immune to vibrations and acoustic perturbations. The short cavity allows mode hop-free current tuning over more than 25 GHz. The tuning is very fast and is amenable to high-bandwidth servo control for easy locking to atomic and molecular transitions or offset locking to a reference laser.
The D2-200 employs two stages of temperature-control and incorporates optical isolation for dependable long-term, mode hop-free operation. It has undergone a Design For Manufacturability process (DFM) to reduce drift in alignment making for a more reliable design than its highly popular predecessor.
D2-135 Offset Phase Lock Servo
- Offset Phase Locks up to ≥9.5 GHz
- Feed forward for fast frequency jumping
- Offset Frequency stability determined by external reference stability
- User-adjustable servo loop parameters
- Internal ramp generator
- Options for optical or electronic beat-note input
The D2-135 Offset Phase Lock Servo (OPLS) is designed to stabilize two lasers via Difference Frequency Generation (DFG). The D2-135 works together with the D2-250 Heterodyne Module and the D2-160 Beat Note Detector. The D2-250 overlaps the master and slave lasers and launches the optical beat note into a multimode fiber where it is delivered to the D2-160, converted to an electrical beat note and supplied to the D2-135. View a typical configuration for using the D2-135.
MLO-100 MODE locked FEMTOSEcoND LASER
The MLO Mode-Locked Oscillator is a stand-alone femtosecond laser designed for ease of use and high performance. Built around an Er:doped fiber and an EDFA, it will reliably deliver sub-100 fs pulses with a bandwidth of over 40 nm. The heart of the MLO-100 is our FO-100 Fiber Oscillator including a gain fiber, mode-locker, and our unique cavity length adjustment tool for exact repetition rate control (and matching). The MLO-100 houses the amplifier and pump diodes, current sources and temperature control, as well as the requisite drive electronics and user interface.
FO-100 Fiber OScILLATOR
This Fiber Oscillator is the engine for your femtosecond oscillator and frequency comb experiments. Based on an Er:doped fiber, it can deliver sub-100 fs pulses with a bandwidth of over 40 nm, given an appropriate pump input and thermal control loops (not included).
Frequency Combs
FFC-100 @ 1560 nm Turn-key Frequency Comb
We are proud to introduce the FFC-100 Fiber-based Frequency Comb. The FFC-100 offers a full octave of wavelength coverage with tight locks on ƒopt and ƒCEO that support the requirements of the next generation of optical atomic clocks. The complete FFC-100 fits into a single 2U 19″ rack mount chassis for a compact, economical comb solution.
CM-100 and CM-200 OEM fiber Frequency Combs
The frequency comb laser is also available in a 100 MHz and 200 MHz version.
Vescent and the Danish National Metrology Institute (DFM) announce a highly accurate user-configurable optical clock assembled entirely from their commercially available components achieving 200 femtoseconds (0.0000000000002) timing instabilities at one second and sub nanosecond holdover at one day. Using Vescent’s commercially available, market-leading optical frequency comb (OFC), the FFC-100, to down-convert the clock cycle to the RF and the wavelength-stabilized output of the DFM Stabilaser 1542e as the clock laser, this powerful combination of components (including the Vescent SLICE-FPGA-II) yields a “Box to Clock” in less than 30 minutes (including warm-up time for all three devices)