vezellasers

Vezellasers are a proposed class of tunable lasers defined by rapid wavelength agility and compact form factors. The term appears in speculative engineering literature and some early theoretical proposals, but it has no universally accepted formal specification.

In concept, vezellasers combine a conventional gain medium (such as diode-pumped solid-state or fiber) with an adjustable optical cavity or external cavity that provides wide tunability. Tuning is typically achieved through electro-optic, thermo-optic, or micro-mechanical means, including etalons, MEMS tuners, or liquid-crystal elements, enabling rapid changes in emission wavelength while maintaining high beam quality.

Architectures discussed in the literature include diode-pumped vezellasers with external cavities and fiber-based designs that use frequency-conversion stages to extend the accessible spectrum.

There are no commercial vezellasers; they remain a topic of theoretical discussion and concept design. Reported or proposed performance ranges are speculative and depend on the chosen architecture, but discussions typically envisage tunability over tens to hundreds of nanometers, milliwatt to watt-scale output, and linewidths ranging from kilohertz to megahertz under ideal stabilization.

Potential applications cited in speculative contexts include high-resolution spectroscopy, LIDAR, and precision metrology, as well as educational demonstrations of fast tunability. Practical deployment would face challenges in stability, thermal management, and cost.

Safety standards for lasers would apply to vezellasers, with classifications and exposure limits determined by output power and wavelength. See also: tunable laser, external-cavity diode laser, frequency-doubled laser, MEMS tunable optics.