Broadband External Cavity Diode Laser
U. S. Patent No. 7,245,642, issued July 17, 2007
Lasers
for spectroscopy are usually operated as spectrally narrow devices, emitting
just one wavelength at any given time. This results in high spectral brightness
and resolving power. However, it is sometimes advantageous to record an entire
spectrum at once. 
This can be done using light bulbs or LEDs as the optical
source, but it is hard to form a tightly collimated beam with such sources,
so it is difficult to achieve a long optical path or probe a small volume.
This invention provides a means of operating an external cavity diode laser so that it emits a broad range of wavelengths simultaneously. The figure shows a spectrum of acetylene that was obtained with such a laser by passing the beam through a monochromator after it passed through the gas sample. As can be seen, the useful laser emission covers the entire spectral band.
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