Laser Stabilization Using Squeezed Light

Carlton M. Caves

Carlton M. Caves, Samuel L. Braunstein, P. D. Drummond +7 more

H. Vahlbruch, D. M. Wilken, Moritz Mehmet +1 more

High levels of laser power stability are necessary for high precision metrology applications. The classical limit for the achievable power stability is determined by the shot noise of the light used to generate a power control signal. Increasing the power of the detected light reduces the relative shot noise level and allows higher stabilities. However, sufficiently high power is not always available and the detection of high laser powers is challenging. Here, we demonstrate a nonclassical way to improve the achievable power stability without increasing the detected power. By the injection of a squeezed vacuum field of light we improve the classical laser power stability beyond its shot noise limit by 9.4_{-0.6}^{+0.6} dB at Fourier frequencies between 5 and 80 kHz. For only 90.6 μA of detected photocurrent we achieve a relative laser power noise of 2.0_{-0.1}^{+0.1}×10^{-8}/sqrt[Hz]. This is the first demonstration of a squeezed light-enhanced laser power stabilization and its performance is equivalent to an almost tenfold increase of detected laser power in a classical scheme. The analysis reveals that the technique presented here has the potential to achieve stability levels of 4.2×10^{-10}/sqrt[Hz] with 58 mA photocurrent measured on a single photodetector.

Hans‐A. Bachor, Matthew S. Taubman, Andrew G. White +2 more

Solid state laser sources, such as diode-pumped Nd:YAG lasers, have given us CW laser light of high power with unprecedented stability and low noise performance. In these lasers most of the technical sources of noise can be eliminated allowing them to be operated close to the theoretical noise limit set by the quantum properties of light. The next step of reducing the noise below the standard limit is known as squeezing. We present experimental progress in generating reliably squeezed light using the process of frequency doubling. We emphasize the long term stability that makes this a truly practical source of squeezed light. Our experimental results match noise spectra calculated with our recently developed models of coupled systems which include the noise generated inside the laser and its interaction with the frequency doubler. We conclude with some observations on evaluating quadrature squeezed states of light.

Daniel F. Walls, Gerard J Milburn

Jasper R. Venneberg, H. Vahlbruch, Marina Trad Nery +1 more

Low-power-noise lasers are essential for many high-precision experiments. Shot noise imposes a fundamental limit on the power stability achievable with classical light sources. In this Letter, we report the generation of bright squeezed light in the audio band, which can improve the sensitivity of otherwise shot-noise-limited measurements. The bright squeezed light source is experimentally realized via the use of squeezed vacuum in a power stabilization scheme. We demonstrate a laser beam at a power of 9.9 mW with a broadband power noise suppression below the classical stabilization limit by up to 8 . 7 − 0.4 + 0.3 dB in the audio band, resulting in a bright squeezed beam with a power noise of 5 . 7 − 0.4 + 0.3 dB below shot noise for frequencies from 6 kHz to 20 kHz. We further conceptually outline a method to surpass this result in the future.