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A laser tuning mechanism which embodies “spectrally dependent spatial filtering” (SDSF) and contemplates two key elements of the tuning mechanism. The first element of the SDSF tuning mechanism is a spectrally dependent beam distortion (i.e. alteration of the amplitude and/or phase profile of the be

A laser tuning mechanism which embodies “spectrally dependent spatial filtering” (SDSF) and contemplates two key elements of the tuning mechanism. The first element of the SDSF tuning mechanism is a spectrally dependent beam distortion (i.e. alteration of the amplitude and/or phase profile of the beam) provided by an SDSF tuning element in a laser cavity. The second element of the SDSF tuning mechanism is an intracavity spatial filter which makes the round trip cavity loss a sensitive function of both beam distortion and cavity alignment. Such a laser can be aligned so that a specific beam distortion, which is provided by the SDSF tuning element at a tunable wavelength, is required to obtain minimum round trip cavity loss, thereby providing tunable laser emission. A preferred embodiment of the SDSF tuning mechanism is an external cavity semiconductor laser having a zeroth order acousto-optic tuning element.

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1. A laser comprising an optical resonator, said optical resonator comprising:a) a pumped gain medium;b) a tuning element comprising a tunable spectral notch filter;c) a grid fixing etalon;wherein said optical resonator is aligned such that radiation is emitted from said optical resonator at substan

1. A laser comprising an optical resonator, said optical resonator comprising:a) a pumped gain medium;b) a tuning element comprising a tunable spectral notch filter;c) a grid fixing etalon;wherein said optical resonator is aligned such that radiation is emitted from said optical resonator at substantially a single emission wavelength which is selected by said tuning element;wherein the laser further comprises means for monitoring a wavelength difference between said single emission wavelength and a wavelength of maximum transmission of said grid fixing etalon.2. The laser of claim 1 wherein the length of said gain medium is selected so that said gain medium has a free spectral range (FSR) which is substantially equal to the FSR of said grid fixing etalon divided by an integer.3. The laser of claim 1 wherein the round trip path length of said optical resonator is selected so that said optical resonator has an FSR which is substantially equal to the FSR of said grid etalon divided by an integer.4. A laser comprising a optical resonator, said optical resonator comprising:a) a pumped gain medium, wherein the gain medium is an electrically pumped semiconductor single mode waveguide;b) an acousto-optic tuning element wherein an optical beam circulating within said optical resonator passes through said tuning element as a zeroth order beam; andc) a grid fixing etalon;wherein said optical resonator is aligned such that radiation is emitted from said optical resonator at substantially a single emission wavelength which is selected by said tuning element;wherein said optical resonator is configured as a standing wave resonator;wherein the length of said gain medium is selected such that said gain medium has a free spectral range (FSR) which is substantially equal to the FSR of said grid fixing etalon divided by an integer.5. The laser of claim 4 wherein the round trip path length of said optical resonator is selected so that said optical resonator has an FSR which is substantially equal to the FSR of said grid fixing etalon divided by an integer.6. The laser of claim 5 further comprising means for monitoring a wavelength difference between said single emission wavelength and a center wavelength of said tuning element.7. The laser of claim 6 further comprising means for monitoring a wavelength difference between said single emission wavelength and a wavelength of maximum transmission of said grid fixing etalon.8. The laser of claim 7 further comprising means for monitoring said single emission wavelength.9. A method for generating a laser beam comprising:a) pumping a gain medium positioned within an optical resonator, said optical resonator defining an intracavity beam path;b) passing light traveling on said beam path through a tunable spectral notch filter provided by a tuning element; andc) passing light traveling on said beam oath through a grid fixing etalon;d) emitting a portion of a beam reflected from said grid fixing etalon to provide an etalon signal;e) emitting a portion of a beam circulating on said beam path to provide a reference signal;f) deriving a normalized etalon signal from said etalon signal and said reference signal; andg) controlling the optical length of said beam path to hold said normalized etalon signal fixed to a predetermined value;wherein said optical resonator is aligned such that radiation is emitted from said optical resonator at substantially a single emission wavelength which is selected by said tuning element.10. The method of claim 9 wherein said gain medium is an electrically pumped semiconductor single mode waveguide and wherein said optical length is varied by altering the current supplied to said gain medium.11. The method of claim 9 wherein the length of said gain medium is selected such that said gain medium has a free spectral range (FSR) which is substantially equal to the FSR of said grid fixing etalon divided by an integer.12. The method of claim 9 wherein the optical length of said beam path is selected such that said optical resonator has an FSR which is substantially equal to the FSR of said grid fixing etalon divided by an integer.13. A method for generating a laser beam comprising:a) pumping a gain medium positioned within an optical resonator, said optical resonator defining an intracavity beam path; andb) passing light traveling on said beam path through a tunable spectral notch filter provided by a tuning element;c) emitting a monitor beam from said optical resonator;d) splitting said monitor beam into a first beam and a second beam;e) filtering said second beam with an optical filter having a linear dependence on wavelength;f) detecting said first beam at a first detector to provide a first signal;g) detecting said filtered second beam at a second detector to provide a second signal; andh) deriving a wavelength measurement from said first signal and said second signal;wherein said optical resonator is aligned such that radiation is emitted from said optical resonator at substantially a single emission wavelength which is selected by said tuning element.14. A method for generating a laser beam comprising:a) pumping a gain medium positioned within an optical resonator, said optical resonator defining an intracavity beam path, wherein said gain medium comprises an electrically pumped semiconductor single mode waveguide, wherein said optical resonator is configured as a standing wave resonator;b) passing light traveling on said beam path through an acousto-optic tuning element in zeroth order so that said light is not frequency shifted;c) passing light traveling on said beam path through a grid fixing etalonwherein said optical resonator is aligned such that radiation is emitted from said optical resonator at substantially a single emission wavelength which is selected by said tuning element;wherein the length of said gain medium is selected such that said gain medium has a free spectral range (FSR) which is substantially equal to the FSR of said grid fixing etalon divided by an integer.15. The method of claim 14 wherein the optical length of said beam path is selected such that said optical resonator has an FSR which is substantially equal to the FSR of said grid fixing etalon divided by an integer.16. The method of claim 15 further comprising:d) emitting a portion of a zeroth order beam within said optical resonator to provide a zeroth order monitor beam;e) emitting a portion of a first order beam within said optical resonator to provide a first order monitor beam; andf) emitting a portion of a beam reflected from a surface of said grid fixing etalon to provide an etalon monitor beam.