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Low Cost Fast Frequency Switching Driver for Acousto-Optic Modulators Used in Laser Cooling
HardwareX
  • Aniket Bhandare
  • Abhishek Patnaik
  • David Pommerenke, Missouri University of Science and Technology
  • Sachin Sharma
  • Daniel Fischer, Missouri University of Science and Technology
Abstract

In many laser atom cooling experiments, Acousto-Optic Modulators (AOM) are used to modulate a laser beam frequency close to an electronic resonance of the atoms. Commercially available RF drivers for the AOMs tend to be expensive ($2k and above) and can also require supplementary equipment such as power supplies and amplifiers. This article presents a low cost, compact, re-configurable, and portable modulator driver system. This system can switch between two frequencies within a period of few hundreds of ns, while giving the user complete control over the frequency range and output power up to about 2 W. This fast switching allows to toggle a laser beam between two optical fibers which could be used for cooling, imaging, or optical pumping of the laser-cooled atoms.

Department(s)
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Second Department
Physics
Research Center/Lab(s)
Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Laboratory
Comments
This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under grant No. 1554776 and by the University of Missouri Research Board.
Keywords and Phrases
  • Acousto-Optic Modulator (AOM) Driver system,
  • Doppler cooling,
  • RF modulation system
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
4-1-2019
Publication Date
01 Apr 2019
Citation Information
Aniket Bhandare, Abhishek Patnaik, David Pommerenke, Sachin Sharma, et al.. "Low Cost Fast Frequency Switching Driver for Acousto-Optic Modulators Used in Laser Cooling" HardwareX Vol. 5 (2019) ISSN: 2468-0672
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/daniel-fischer/81/