Spectral-Modulation Characteristics of Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers

The requirements imposed on vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers in a number of metrological problems in which optical pumping of alkali atoms is used are considered. For lasers produced by different manufacturers, these requirements are compared with the experimentally observed spectral characteristics at a constant pump current and in the microwave modulation mode. It is shown that a comparatively small number of lasers in the microwave modulation mode make it possible to obtain the spectrum required for atomic clocks based on the coherent population-trapping effect.