9361314 Snyder The principal investigator proposes an experimental program to measure the effect on a laser diode's frequency of optical feedback from a short cavity made from high-performance cylindrical microlens collimators. The microlens assembly, which circularizes and collimates the diode output radiation to a diffraction limited beam, will also provide highly efficient optical feedback into the laser cavity. From the results of these experiments we will design a simple, low cost, compact, and robust tunable diode laser system that utilizes collimating microlenses to form a short external cavity for both longitudinal mode control and frequency tuning. ***
