Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Akio Kawasaki

Vladan Vuletic

Boris Braverman

Edwin Eduardo Pedrozo Penafiel

Megan Yamoah

An optical and electronic feedback system can be used to significantly narrow the linewidth of distributed Bragg reflector lasers (DBRs) by reducing the high-frequency noise in the laser spectrum. An optical feedback path reduces the high-frequency noise of the laser. An electric-optic modulator placed inside of this feedback path applies electronic feedback with a very large bandwidth, allowing for robust and stable locking to a reference cavity. In addition, the servo-electronic component greatly increases the long-term stability of the laser locking to an external reference cavity, allowing for low noise, long-term operation of the laser. Specifically, it suppresses the frequency noise spectral density and narrows the total linewidth from a free-running value of 100 kHz to 30 Hz. The resulting modified DBR laser is both precise and stable and has applications in optical clocks, quantum information science, and precision metrology.

Growing community of inventors

Palo Alto, CA, United States of America

Akio Kawasaki