Suppression of residual amplitude modulation effects in Pound–Drever–Hall locking

Abstract

Residual amplitude modulation (RAM) effect in a Pound-Drever-Hall (PDH) technique locked cavity system is analysed in this paper. Frequency shift caused by RAM in PDH is found to be both related to the amplitude of the RAM and to the cavity's mode matching and impedance matching. The cavity reflection contrast depends on the mode matching of the incident laser light and impedance matching of the cavity. The suppression of the amplitude of the RAM has been investigated by many groups, while the effect of the cavity response has not received full attention. According to our analysis, RAM effect can be fully suppressed by proper impedance matching and magic mode coupling. We have measured the RAM to frequency conversion coefficients at different coupling efficiencies. The result agrees well with the calculation, demonstrating the potential of full suppression of the RAM effect through proper design of cavities.