Photothermal fluctuations as a fundamental limit to low-frequency squeezing in a degenerate optical parametric oscillator

Journal Article · Sat Oct 15 00:00:00 EDT 2005 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.72.043819· OSTI ID:20718811

Goda, Keisuke; Mikhailov, Eugeniy E; Mavalvala, Nergis ^[1]; McKenzie, Kirk; McClelland, David E ^[2]; Lam, Ping Koy ^[3]

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1. LIGO Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 (United States)
2. Center for Gravitational Physics, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Australian National University, ACT 0200 (Australia)
3. Quantum Optics Group, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Australian National University, ACT 0200 (Australia)

We study the effect of photothermal fluctuations on squeezed states of light through the photo-refractive effect and thermal expansion in a degenerate optical parametric oscillator (OPO). We also discuss the effect of the photothermal noise in various cases and how to minimize its undesirable consequences. We find that the photothermal noise in the OPO introduces a significant amount of noise on phase squeezed beams, making them less than ideal for low-frequency applications such as gravitational wave (GW) interferometers, whereas amplitude squeezed beams are relatively immune to the photothermal noise and may represent the best choice for application in GW interferometers.

• OSTI ID: 20718811
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Vol. 72, Issue 4; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.72.043819; (c) 2005 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1050-2947
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
AMPLITUDES
FLUCTUATIONS
GRAVITATIONAL WAVE DETECTORS
GRAVITATIONAL WAVES
INTERFEROMETERS
NOISE
PARAMETRIC AMPLIFIERS
PARAMETRIC OSCILLATORS
THERMAL EXPANSION
VISIBLE RADIATION