Pound–Drever–Hall feedforward: laser phase noise suppression beyond feedback

Abstract

Pound–Drever–Hall (PDH) laser frequency stabilization is a powerful technique widely used for building narrow linewidth lasers. This technique is, however, ineffective in suppressing high-frequency (>100kHz) laser phase noise detrimental for many applications. Here, we introduce an effective method that can greatly enhance its high-frequency performance. The idea is to recycle the residual PDH signal of a laser locked to a cavity by feedforwarding it directly to the laser output field after a delay fiber. Using this straightforward method, we demonstrate a phase noise suppression capability about four orders of magnitude better than just using the usual PDH feedback for noise around a few MHz. We further find that this method exhibits noise suppression performance equivalent to cavity filtering. This method holds great promise for applications demanding highly stable lasers with diminished phase noise up to tens of MHz (e.g., precise and high-speed control of atomic and molecular quantum states).