Abstract

We have phase locked the picosecond optical pulse train from the Mark III free-electron laser at the 2.86-GHz rf frequency, using a Michelson resonator to couple adjacent intracavity pulses, and have externally filtered a single axial mode from the optical spectrum at 3 μm, using a solid étalon in series with a monochrometer. The interpulse phase coherence is manifest in the optical spectrum as a reduction in the number of axial modes per rf band and was confirmed with a spectrum analyzer capable of distinguishing adjacent modes. The high-power resonator employed a sapphire beam splitter of novel design and yielded a peak single-mode output power of 28 W and an average unfiltered macropulse power of 3 kW with a frequency stability appropriate for high-resolution spectroscopy. We demonstrate stable, interferometric tuning of the axial modes and also measure the detuning and desynchronism properties of the resonator to be in complete agreement with previous theoretical analyses.

© 1996 Optical Society of America

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