1. Ultrastable lasers: investigations of crystalline mirrors and closed cycle cooling at 124 K
- Author
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Ma, C. Y., Yu, J., Legero, T., Herbers, S., Nicolodi, D., Kempkes, M., Riehle, F., Kedar, D., Robinson, J. M., Ye, J., and Sterr, U.
- Subjects
Physics - Optics ,Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics - Abstract
We have investigated crystalline AlGaAs/GaAs optical coatings with three ultra-stable cavities operating at 4 K, 16 K, 124 K and 297 K. The response of the resonance frequencies of cavities to variations in optical power indicates effects beyond the photo-thermo-optic effect observed in dielectric coatings. These effects are strongly dependent on the intensity of the intracavity light at 1.5~\textmu m. When the rear side of the mirrors is illuminated with external light, we observe a prominent photo-modified birefringence for photon energies above the GaAs bandgap, which points to a possible mechanism relating our observations to the semiconductor properties of the coatings. Separately, we also present a low maintenance evolution of our 124 K silicon cavity system where the liquid nitrogen based cooling system is replaced with closed cycle cooling from a pulse-tube cryo-cooler.
- Published
- 2024