https://doi.org/10.1140/epjqt/s40507-024-00297-z
Research
Practical ultra-low frequency noise laser system for quantum sensors
1
Key Laboratory of Quantum Optics and Quantum Optics Devices, Shanxi University, 030006, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China
2
Collaborative Innovation Center of Extreme Optics, Shanxi University, 030006, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China
3
Department of Precision Instrument, Tsinghua University, 100084, Beijing, China
Received:
17
April
2024
Accepted:
4
December
2024
Published online:
19
December
2024
The laser’s frequency noise is crucial to the sensitivity of quantum sensors. Two commonly used methods to suppress the laser’s frequency noise are locking the laser to an atomic transition by the lock-in technique or to an ultra-low thermal expansion (ULE) glass cavity by the PDH technique. The former cannot suppress rapidly changing frequency noise and hardly meets the needs; the latter has powerful performance but a heightened cost. The lack of high-performance and low-cost laser noise suppression methods dramatically limits the practical application of quantum sensors. This work demonstrates that, in many quantum sensing applications such as the Rydberg atomic superheterodyne receiver, by cascade locking the laser to both the atomic transition and a low-cost (LC) cavity, the same performance as locking to the ULE cavity can be achieved. This work is significant in promoting the practical application of quantum sensors.
Key words: Laser frequency stabilization / Rydberg states / Quantum sensors
© The Author(s) 2024
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