Shot-noise limited measurement of sub-ppt birefringence phase shift in a high finesse cavity

Mathieu Durand (1) , Jérôme Morville (1) , D. Romanini (2)

1 LASIM - Laboratoire de Spectrométrie Ionique et Moléculaire
2 LSP - Laboratoire de Spectrométrie Physique

We report on a novel approach to high sensitivity anisotropy measurements using a high finesse cavity locked by optical feedback to a diode laser. We provide a simple and effective way to decouple the weak anisotropy of interest from the inherent mirror's birefringence whose drift may be identified as the key limiting parameter in cavity-based techniques. We demonstrate for the first time a shotnoise limited phase shift resolution up to now inaccessible in an optical cavity, readily achieving the state of the art level of 3 × 10−13 rad.

Domaines: Instrumentations et Détecteurs [physics.ins-det]; Optique [physics.optics]

Mathieu Durand, Jérôme Morville, D. Romanini. Shot-noise limited measurement of sub-ppt birefringence phase shift in a high finesse cavity. Physical Review A : Atomic, molecular, and optical physics [1990-2015], 2010, 82, pp.031803(R). ⟨10.1103/PhysRevA.82.031803⟩. ⟨hal-00563649⟩