Abstract

A laser-diode-pumped Nd:YVO₄ microchip laser was built and actively frequency stabilized relative to a Fabry–Perot cavity with the frequency-modulated sideband technique. The error signal reaches the shot-noise level of $7.4\text{mHz}/\sqrt{\text{Hz}}$ around 1 kHz. Excess intensity noise sets a lower limit of $16.5\text{mHz}/\sqrt{\text{Hz}}$ for the relative frequency noise, corresponding to a spectral linewidth of 860 μHz. We discuss the method for reconstructing the actual frequency deviation from the observed error signal.

© 1996 Optical Society of America

Noise characteristics of a Nd:YVO₄ laser pumped by laser diode modulated at high frequency

Hideo Nagai, Masahiro Kume, Akio Yoshikawa, and Kunio Itoh
Appl. Opt. 33(24) 5542-5545 (1994)

Low-intensity-noise operation of Nd:YVO₄ microchip lasers by pump-noise suppression

Christoph Becher and Klaus-J. Boller
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 16(2) 286-295 (1999)

Suppression of the intensity noise of a laser-diode-pumped single-frequency ring Nd:YVO₄–KTP green laser by optoelectronic feedback

Jing Zhang, Hong Chang, Xiaojun Jia, Hongxiang Lei, Runlin Wang, Changde Xie, and Kunchi Peng
Opt. Lett. 26(10) 695-697 (2001)

Suppression of intensity noise of a laser-diode-pumped single-frequency Nd:YVO₄ laser by optoelectronic control

Jing Zhang, Hongliang Ma, Changde Xie, and Kunchi Peng
Appl. Opt. 42(6) 1068-1074 (2003)

Low-noise operation (−140 dB/Hz) in close-coupled Nd:YVO₄ second-harmonic lasers pumped by single-mode laser diodes

Hideo Nagai, Masahiro Kume, Akio Yoshikawa, and Kunio Itoh
Appl. Opt. 32(33) 6610-6615 (1993)