2017/08/31 by W. Zhang, J. M. Robinson, John Robinson +15 · 3 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Fiber Laser Technologies #Advanced Frequency and Time Standards #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Computer science #Condensed matter physics #Cryostat #Instability #Laser #Laser linewidth #Materials science #Noise (video) #Optics #Optoelectronics #Phase noise #Physics #Silicon #Superconductivity #Upgrade #physics.ins-det #physics.optics
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.119.243601
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 243601 (2017) · 5 pages, 4 figures
arxiv created 2017/11/05 · openalex publication_date 2017/12/15 · arxiv updated 2017/12/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
We report on a laser locked to a silicon cavity operating continuously at 4 K with 1×10-16 instability and a median linewidth of 17 mHz at 1542 nm. This is a tenfold improvement in short-term instability, and a 104 improvement in linewidth, over previous sub-10-K systems. Operating at low temperatures reduces the thermal noise floor and, thus, is advantageous toward reaching an instability of 10-18, a long-sought goal of the optical clock community. The performance of this system demonstrates the technical readiness for the development of the next generation of ultrastable lasers that operate with an ultranarrow linewidth and long-term stability without user intervention.