Optical Reference Cavities

Optical reference cavities are exceptionally high quality optical filters. They can be used to filter optical signals or more commonly as references for laser systems. As a reference they enable dramatic improvement in the quality of laser systems

In recent years great advances in reference cavity design based on Fabry-Perot cavities have occurred [1]. They now offer unprecedented stability and finesse, but these improvements have come at the expense of large volumes (1000 cm^3). MicroR will providean integrated with a finesse equal to the large scale devices but in a low volume package, utilizing fiber pigtails for integration into more complex systems. The heart of the package will be a crystalline optical microresonator, which offers greater stability than other optical microresonator platforms due to the high quality (Q) factors and low thermal noise. These systems have demonstrated stabilities of 10^(-13) at 1 s in laboratory settings [2].

[1] T. Kessler, C. Hagemann, U. Sterr, F. Riehle, M. Martin, and J. Ye, Nature Photon. 6, 687 (2012).

[2] J. Alnis, A. Schliesser, C. Y. Wang, J. Hofer, T. J. Kippenberg, and T. W. Hänsch, Phys. Rev. A 84, 11804 (2011).