Double-heterodyne probing for an ultra-stable laser based on spectral hole burning in a rare-earth-doped crystal.
Opt Lett
; 45(7): 1930-1933, 2020 Apr 01.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-32236035
ABSTRACT
We present an experimental technique for realizing a specific absorption spectral pattern in a rare-earth-doped crystal at cryogenic temperatures. This pattern is subsequently probed on two spectral channels simultaneously, thereby producing an error signal allowing frequency locking of a laser on the said spectral pattern. Appropriate combination of the two channels leads to a substantial reduction in detection noise, paving the way to realizing an ultra-stable laser for which the detection noise can be made arbitrarily low when using multiple channels. We use this technique to realize a laser with a frequency instability of $ 1.7 \times 1{0^{{\bf - }15}} $1.7×10-15 at 1 s, not limited by the detection noise but by environmental perturbation of the crystal. This is comparable with the lowest instability demonstrated at 1 s to date for rare-earth-doped crystal stabilized lasers.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Language:
En
Journal:
Opt Lett
Year:
2020
Document type:
Article