Continuous beam scanning by transverse mode-locking in a Pound-Drever-Hall stabilized resonator

Abstract

Mode-locking, i.e., the phase-locked superposition of resonator modes, enables ultrafast laser beam dynamics. Here, high-speed beam scanning at 79.6 MHz is achieved by generating sets of phase-locked transverse resonator modes. Such transverse mode-locked (TML) beams are obtained via conversion in an empty, optical resonator from incident longitudinal mode-locked beams. In this conversion scheme the modal power and phase distributions can be controlled to alter the dynamics of the emerging scanning beams. It is shown, that the Pound-Drever-Hall stabilization scheme is applicable to compound TML resonances and it is used to maintain resonance between the incident beam’s spectral components and the transverse mode resonances. This way, TML states are reliably generated and continuously emitted.