Compact, portable, thermal-noise-limited optical cavity with low acceleration sensitivity

Abstract

We develop and demonstrate a compact (less than 6 mL) portable Fabry-Pérot optical reference cavity. A laser locked to the cavity is thermal noise limited at 2 × 10−14 fractional frequency stability. Broadband feedback control with an electro-optic modulator enables near thermal-noise-limited phase noise performance from 1 Hz to 10 kHz offset frequencies. The additional low vibration, temperature, and holding force sensitivity of our design makes it well suited for out-of-the-lab applications such as optically derived low noise microwave generation, compact and mobile optical atomic clocks, and environmental sensing through deployed fiber networks.