UCLA

Compact, high power lasers with narrow linewidth are important tools for the manipulation of quantum systems. We demonstrate a compact, self-injection locked, Fabry-Perot semiconductor laser diode with high output power at 493 nm. A high quality factor magnesium fluoride whispering gallery mode resonator enables both high passive stability and 1 kHz instantaneous linewidth. We use this laser for laser-cooling, in-situ isotope purifcation, and probing barium atomic ions confined in a radio-frequency ion trap. The results here demonstrate the suitability of these lasers in trapped ion quantum information processing and for probing weak coherent optical transitions.