Superluminal and Subluminal Lasers for Precision Metrology

Joshua Yablon

doi:https://doi.org/10.21985/N2RX79

Work

Superluminal and Subluminal Lasers for Precision Metrology

Public Deposited

Download PDF

Download All Files (.zip)

Optical interferometry is a powerful technique which has been widely utilized for well over a century in making the world’s most precise measurements. By measuring how the interference between two waves is affected by a physical process, one can deduce the magnitude of this process. Because the wavelength of a typical laser beam is very short, the phase shift between two beams of light can be enormously affected by very small perturbations. There will always be a need for even more sensitive interferometers. Our approach to increasing sensitivity is to use so-called fast-light (or superluminal) lasers and slow-light (or subluminal) lasers in which the group velocity of the intra-cavity lasing beam is faster and slower, respectively, than the vacuum speed of light. We have successfully demonstrated lasers with both superluminal and subluminal effects, which promise to be of significant utility in high precision optical metrological applications. In this thesis, we first present the demonstration of a superluminal Diode-Pumped Alkali Laser (DPAL) with a Raman resonance induced dip in the center of the gain profile, with a factor of sensitivity enhancement as high as 190 relative to a conventional laser. This laser has potential applications in many precision measurement applications such as rotation, vibration, and gravitational wave detection. We also present the demonstration of a subluminal Raman laser with a factor of sensitivity suppression as high as 663 relative to a conventional laser. Such a laser is highly self-stabilized, and is expected to have a far smaller Schawlow-Townes linewidth. As a result, this laser may also offer significant utility in the fields of high-precision optical metrology, as well as passive frequency stabilization.

Last modified