Development of frequency stabilized laser system for long-lived isotope analysis, 1; Development of Littrow configuration extended cavity diode laser

Miyabe, Masabumi   ; Oda, Koichi*; Oba, Masaki ; Kato, Masaaki; Wakaida, Ikuo  ; Watanabe, Kazuo

In nuclear waste materials there are various radionuclides to which standard analytical techniques are difficult to be applied. We are developing an analytical technique where such nuclides are analyzed using multi-step resonance ionization mass spectrometry. In this study, we have developed an external cavity diode laser applicable to the analysis. The wavelength and output power dependence on injection current and temperature were investigated for various types of laser diodes. Based on the data, we have obtained a suitable condition to operate the ECDL in stable single-mode oscillation, so that a continuous scanning range of about 100 GHz was realized. Additionaly, to evaluate the bandwidth of the developed ECDL, we have performed Doppler-free spectroscopy. The reasonable agreement of the measured isotope shift and HFS splitting with the reported values demonstrated that the developed ECDL is applicable to a precise laser spectroscopy as well as a laser trace analysis.