Pulsed, controlled, frequency-chirped laser light at GHz detunings for atomic physics experiments

We have developed a means to control rapidly frequency-chirped laser light at large detuning, by controlling the input modulation frequency of a ∼\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\sim$$\end{document}7 GHz signal into an electro-optical phase modulator in an injection-locked laser system. We show that we can extend the capabilities of the system to effectively pulse the laser on timescales less than 3 ns by turning the injection lock on/off and create arbitrary frequency-chirp shapes on the laser on the tens of nanosecond time scales. We have been able to use this pulsed frequency-chirped laser to control the excitation of a thermal Rb gas via rapid adiabatic passage.