1,006 research outputs found
Frequency stabilization of a monolithic Nd:YAG ring laser by controlling the power of the laser-diode pump source
The frequency of a 700mW monolithic non-planar Nd:YAG ring laser (NPRO)
depends with a large coupling coefficient (some MHz/mW) on the power of its
laser-diode pump source. Using this effect we demonstrate the frequency
stabilization of an NPRO to a frequency reference by feeding back to the
current of its pump diodes. We achieved an error point frequency noise smaller
than 1mHz/sqrt(Hz), and simultaneously a reduction of the power noise of the
NPRO by 10dB without an additional power stabilization feed-back system.Comment: accepted for publication by Optics Letter
The Hannover thermal noise experiment
To analyse the thermal noise of the pendulum mode of a suspended mirror, we interferometrically detect the differential movement of two mirrors suspended as multiple-stage pendulums. We present the set-up of this experiment and the current sensitivity, and also the different steps that we took in the past to increase the sensitivity, which include an auto alignment of the laser beam into the resonator eigenmode, changes of the seismic isolation system to more damping stages and higher moments of inertia and an intensive noise hunting
The GEO 600 laser system
Interferometric gravitational wave detectors require high optical power, single frequency lasers with very good beam quality and high amplitude and frequency stability as well as high long-term reliability as input light source. For GEO 600 a laser system with these properties is realized by a stable planar, longitudinally pumped 12 W Nd:YAG rod laser which is injection-locked to a monolithic 800 mW Nd:YAG non-planar ring oscillator. Frequency control signals from the mode cleaners are fed to the actuators of the non-planar ring oscillator which determines the frequency stability of the system. The system power stabilization acts on the slave laser pump diodes which have the largest influence on the output power. In order to gain more output power, a combined Nd:YAGNd:YVO4 system is scaled to more than 22 W
Intensity and frequency noise reduction of a Nd:YAG NPRO via pump light stabilisation
We have shown that pump light intensity stabilisation of a single-mode laser diode pumped Nd:YAG non-planar ring oscillator (NPRO) results in significant intensity noise reduction of the NPRO, as well as frequency noise suppression in the same order of magnitude. This effect does not occur in conventional laser diode array pumped NPROs due to mode beating effects originating in the multi-mode pump. As opposed to individual intensity and frequency stabilisation, pump light stabilisation contributes a simplified stabilisation scheme for single-mode laser diode pumped NPROs for high precision applications
Laser beam steering for GRACE Follow-On intersatellite interferometry
The GRACE Follow-On satellites will use, for the first time, a Laser Ranging Interferometer to measure intersatellite distance changes from which fluctuations in Earthâs geoid can be inferred. We have investigated the beam steering method that is required to maintain the laser link between the satellites. Although developed for the specific needs of the GRACE Follow-On mission, the beam steering method could also be applied to other intersatellite laser ranging applications where major difficulties are common: large spacecraft separation and large spacecraft attitude jitter. The beam steering method simultaneously coaligns local oscillator beam and transmitted beam with the laser beam received from the distant spacecraft using Differential Wavefront Sensing. We demonstrate the operation of the beam steering method on breadboard level using GRACE satellite attitude jitter data to command a hexapod, a six-degree-of-freedom rotation and translation stage. We verify coalignment of local oscillator beam/ transmitted beam and received beam of better than 10 ÎŒrad with a stability of 10 ÎŒrad/ Hzââââ in the GRACE Follow-On measurement band of 0.002...0.1 Hz. Additionally, important characteristics of the beam steering setup such as Differential Wavefront Sensing signals, heterodyne efficiency, and suppression of rotation-to-pathlength coupling are investigated and compared with analysis results
Experimental characterization of frequency dependent squeezed light
We report on the demonstration of broadband squeezed laser beams that show a
frequency dependent orientation of the squeezing ellipse. Carrier frequency as
well as quadrature angle were stably locked to a reference laser beam at
1064nm. This frequency dependent squeezing was characterized in terms of noise
power spectra and contour plots of Wigner functions. The later were measured by
quantum state tomography. Our tomograph allowed a stable lock to a local
oscillator beam for arbitrary quadrature angles with one degree precision.
Frequency dependent orientations of the squeezing ellipse are necessary for
squeezed states of light to provide a broadband sensitivity improvement in
third generation gravitational wave interferometers. We consider the
application of our system to long baseline interferometers such as a future
squeezed light upgraded GEO600 detector.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure
Laser interferometry with translucent and absorbing mechanical oscillators
The sensitivity of laser interferometers can be pushed into regimes that
enable the direct observation of quantum behaviour of mechanical oscillators.
In the past, membranes with subwavelength thickness (thin films) have been
proposed as high-mechanical-quality, low-thermal-noise oscillators. Thin films
from a homogenous material, however, generally show considerable light
transmission accompanied by heating due to light absorption, which typically
reduces the mechanical quality and limits quantum opto-mechanical experiments
in particular at low temperatures. In this work, we experimentally analyze a
Michelson-Sagnac interferometer including a translucent silicon nitride (SiN)
membrane with subwavelength thickness. We find that such an interferometer
provides an operational point being optimally suited for quantum
opto-mechanical experiments with translucent oscillators. In case of a balanced
beam splitter of the interferometer, the membrane can be placed at a node of
the electro-magnetic field, which simultaneously provides lowest absorption and
optimum laser noise rejection at the signal port. We compare the optical and
mechanical model of our interferometer with experimental data and confirm that
the SiN membrane can be coupled to a laser power of the order of one Watt at
1064 nm without significantly degrading the membrane's quality factor of the
order 10^6, at room temperature
Adaptive filtering techniques for gravitational wave interferometric data: Removing long-term sinusoidal disturbances and oscillatory transients
It is known by the experience gained from the gravitational wave detector
proto-types that the interferometric output signal will be corrupted by a
significant amount of non-Gaussian noise, large part of it being essentially
composed of long-term sinusoids with slowly varying envelope (such as violin
resonances in the suspensions, or main power harmonics) and short-term ringdown
noise (which may emanate from servo control systems, electronics in a
non-linear state, etc.). Since non-Gaussian noise components make the detection
and estimation of the gravitational wave signature more difficult, a denoising
algorithm based on adaptive filtering techniques (LMS methods) is proposed to
separate and extract them from the stationary and Gaussian background noise.
The strength of the method is that it does not require any precise model on the
observed data: the signals are distinguished on the basis of their
autocorrelation time. We believe that the robustness and simplicity of this
method make it useful for data preparation and for the understanding of the
first interferometric data. We present the detailed structure of the algorithm
and its application to both simulated data and real data from the LIGO 40meter
proto-type.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Local dark matter searches with LISA
The drag-free satellites of LISA will maintain the test masses in geodesic
motion over many years with residual accelerations at unprecedented small
levels and time delay interferometry (TDI) will keep track of their
differential positions at level of picometers. This may allow investigations of
fine details of the gravitational field in the Solar System previously
inaccessible. In this spirit, we present the concept of a method to measure
directly the gravitational effect of the density of diffuse Local Dark Matter
(LDM) with a constellation of a few drag-free satellites, by exploiting how
peculiarly it would affect their relative motion. Using as test bed an
idealized LISA with rigid arms, we find that the separation in time between the
test masses is uniquely perturbed by the LDM, so that they acquire a
differential breathing mode. Such a LDM signal is related to the LDM density
within the orbits and has characteristic spectral components, with amplitudes
increasing in time, at various frequencies of the dynamics of the
constellation. This is the relevant result, in that the LDM signal is brought
to non-zero frequencies.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure; v2: minor changes to match the version in press on
Classical and Quantum Gravity (special issue for the 7th International LISA
Symposium proceedings
Unified set of atomic transition probabilities for neutral argon
The atomic transition probabilities and radiative lifetimes of neutral argon have been the subject of numerous experiments and calculations, but the results exhibit many discrepancies and inconsistencies. We present a unified set of atomic transition probabilities, which is consistent with essentially all recent results, albeit sometimes only after critical reanalysis. The data consistency and scale confirmation has been achieved in two ways. (i) We have carried out some lifetimeâbranching-ratio measurements for a principal 5p level and the associated 4s-5p transitions. These measurements have very closely confirmed the accuracy of the results of recent independent emission experiments. (ii) We have critically reanalyzed and revised the literature data for the 4s-4p transitions, as well as utilized the results of a similar critical analysis for the 4s-5p transition array, to establish complete sets of absolute data for these arrays. We have found these data to be mutually consistent from cross-correlation checks between the two arrays, using recent literature data. Finally, we have proposed renormalization factors for other argon transitions based on this analysis
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