Stabilization of an 852 nm extended cavity diode laser using the Zeeman effect

We demonstrate the use of the Zeeman effect in Cs vapour to stabilize an ultra-compact extended cavity diode laser (ECDL) operating at 852 nm. We investigate the expected laser stabilization error signal for a range of magnetic fields and are able to tune the locked ECDL by variation of the magnetic field. We also study in detail the tuning of the laser frequency using optical methods. The ECDL has a linewidth of 520kHz and the drift, when locked, is of the order of 5 MHzh−1.