This is an instructional paper to guide the construction and diagnostics of external cavity diode lasers (ECDLs), including component selection and optical alignment, as well as the basics of frequency reference spectroscopy and laser linewidth measurements for applications in the field of atomic physics.
Hardman, K. S., Bennetts, S., Debs, J. E., Kuhn, C. C. N., McDonald, G. D., Robins, N. Construction and Characterization of External Cavity Diode Lasers for Atomic Physics. J. Vis. Exp. (86), e51184, doi:10.3791/51184 (2014).