Tenfold reduction of Brownian noise in high-reflectivity optical coatings
Tenfold reduction of Brownian noise in high-reflectivity optical coatings
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DOI：
10.1038/nphoton.2013.174
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发表时间：
2013-08-01
期刊：
影响因子：
35
通讯作者：
Aspelmeyer, Markus
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Cole, Garrett D.;Zhang, Wei;Aspelmeyer, Markus
热引起的波动对精确测量施加了基本限制。在光学干涉测量中，稳定性和灵敏度的电流范围由组成腔端镜的高反射率涂层的过量机械衰减决定。在过去的十年里，这些非晶态多层反射镜的耗散最多也就减少了两倍。在这里，我们展示了一种基于直接结合单晶多层膜的光学镀膜技术的新范例，它既表现出固有的低机械损耗，又表现出高光学质量。使用这些“晶体涂层”作为法布里-珀罗腔的端镜，我们获得了15万的精确度。更重要的是，在室温下，我们观察到与最好的介质多层膜相比，热限制的噪声底板与机械阻尼降低了10倍。这些结果为下一代超灵敏干涉仪以及激光稳定性的新水平铺平了道路。
Thermally induced fluctuations impose a fundamental limit on precision measurement. In optical interferometry, the current bounds of stability and sensitivity are dictated by the excess mechanical damping of the high-reflectivity coatings that comprise the cavity end mirrors. Over the last decade, the dissipation of these amorphous multilayer reflectors has at best been reduced by a factor of two. Here, we demonstrate a new paradigm in optical coating technology based on direct-bonded monocrystalline multilayers, which exhibit both intrinsically low mechanical loss and high optical quality. Employing these 'crystalline coatings' as end mirrors in a Fabry-Perot cavity, we obtain a finesse of 150,000. More importantly, at room temperature, we observe a thermally limited noise floor consistent with a tenfold reduction in mechanical damping when compared with the best dielectric multilayers. These results pave the way for the next generation of ultra-sensitive interferometers, as well as for new levels of laser stability.