Injection seeder

Injection seeders are devices that direct the output of small "seed" lasers into the cavity of a much larger laser to stabilize the latter's output.

The single frequency encourages the larger laser to lase in a single longitudinal mode, and the seed laser can also improve the laser's spatial profile and improve the M2 parameter.

Seed lasers can be continuous or pulsed.

Seeding a pulsed laser can reduce variations in the output energy and timing (jitter) from pulse to pulse, and smooth out temporal variations within the pulse.

This optics-related article is a stub.