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Optics Letters

Reducing the phase noise in diode lasers

R. L. Rincón Celis, M. Martinelli

Published Jun 27, 2019• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Diode lasers are widely used in atomic physics given their narrow linewidth and wavelength tunability. Nevertheless, although they present low noise for their intensity, excessive noise in the phase limits their application in quantum optics. Looking for reduction of this phase noise, we built and characterized a ring laser, using a semiconductor-tapered amplifier as the gain medium. We were able to reduce the phase noise of a diode laser to a factor of 10 above shot-noise level, bringing it closer to a useful coherent state for applications in quantum information.

DOI
10.1364/ol.44.003394

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Diode lasers are widely used in atomic physics given their narrow linewidth and wavelength tunability. Nevertheless, although they present low noise for their intensity, excessive noise in the phase limits their application in quantum optics. Looking for reduction of this phase noise, we built and characterized a ring laser, using a semiconductor-tapered amplifier as the gain medium. We were able to reduce the phase noise of a diode laser to a factor of 10 above shot-noise level, bringing it closer to a useful coherent state for applications in quantum information.
Laser diodes are widely used in atomic physics in configurations of external cavity with a diffraction grating (Littrow or Littrow-Metcalf configuration), that allows us to tune its wavelength and filter their spectrum. Even with this control they present an excess noise about 40 dB above the standard quantum level,limiting their uses for quantum optics. Our goal in this project is to decrease the typical noise level of the diode laser, to reasonable values for future work with quantum optics. In order to do that we built a ring laser using a semiconductor chip as the gain medium.
We have investigated the intensity and phase noise of single-mode laser diodes, either free-running or using different types of line narrowing techniques at room temperature, namely feedback from an external grating and injection locking. We have measured an intensity squeezing of 1.2 dB in the first case, and 1.4 dB in the second case (respectively, 1.6 dB and 2.3 dB inferred at the laser output). We have observed that the intensity noise of a free-running 'single-mode' laser diode actually results from a cancellation effect between large anticorrelated fluctuations of the main mode and of weak longitudinal side modes. It is also shown that free-running diodes exhibit very large excess phase noise. Typically more than 80 dB above shot noise at 10 MHz, which can be significantly reduced by the above-mentioned techniques.
Lasers with high spectral purity are indispensable for optical clocks and for the coherent manipulation of atomic and molecular qubits in applications such as quantum computing and quantum simulation. While the stabilization of such lasers to a reference can provide a narrow linewidth, the widely used diode lasers exhibit fast phase noise that prevents high-fidelity qubit manipulation. In this paper, we demonstrate a self-injection locked diode laser system that utilizes a high-finesse cavity. This cavity not only provides a stable resonance frequency, it also acts as a low-pass filter for phase noise beyond the cavity linewidth of around 100 kHz, resulting in low phase noise from dc to the injection lock limit. We model the expected laser performance and benchmark it using a single trapped 40 Ca + -ion as a spectrum analyzer. We show that the fast phase noise of the laser at relevant Fourier frequencies of 100 kHz to >2 MHz is suppressed to a noise floor of between −110 dBc/Hz and −120 dBc/Hz, an improvement of 20 to 30 dB over state-of-the-art Pound-Drever-Hall-stabilized extended-cavity diode lasers. This strong suppression avoids incoherent (spurious) spin flips during manipulation of optical qubits and improves laser-driven gates when using diode lasers in applications involving quantum logic spectroscopy, quantum simulation, and quantum computation.
Lasers with high spectral purity are indispensable for optical clocks and coherent manipulation of atomic and molecular qubits for applications such as quantum computing and quantum simulation. Stabilisation of the laser to a reference can provide a narrow linewidth and high spectral purity. However, widely-used diode lasers exhibit fast phase noise that prevents high fidelity qubit manipulation. Here we demonstrate a self-injection locked diode laser system utilizing a medium finesse cavity. The cavity not only provides a stable resonance frequency, but at the same time acts as a low-pass filter for phase noise beyond the cavity linewidth of around 100 kHz, resulting in low phase noise from dc to the injection lock limit. We model the expected laser performance and benchmark it using a single trapped 40^{40}40Ca+^{+}+-ion as a spectrum analyser. We show that the fast phase noise of the laser at relevant Fourier frequencies of 100 kHz to >2 MHz is suppressed to a noise floor of between -110 dBc/Hz and -120 dBc/Hz, an improvement of 20 to 30 dB over state-of-the-art Pound-Drever-Hall-stabilized extended-cavity diode lasers. This strong suppression avoids incoherent (spurious) spin flips during manipulation of optical qubits and improves laser-driven gates in using diode lasers with applications in quantum logic spectroscopy, quantum simulation and quantum computation.