High-accuracy wavemeter based on a stabilized diode laser

We have built a high-accuracy wavelength meter for tunable lasers using a scanning Michelson interferometer and a reference laser of known wavelength. The reference laser is a frequency-stabilized diode laser locked to an atomic transition in Rb. The wavemeter has a statistical error per measurement of 5 parts in $10^7$, which can be reduced considerably by averaging. Using a second stabilized diode laser, we have verified that systematic errors are below 4 parts in $10^8$