Technical limitations to homodyne detection at audio frequencies

Kirk McKenzie*, Malcolm B. Gray, Ping Koy Lam, David E. McClelland

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    23 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Homodyne detection relies on the beat between a relatively strong local oscillator (LO) field at the carrier frequency and a signal beam with sidebands centered around the carrier frequency. This type of signal detection, or signal readout, is widely used in quantum optics applications and is expected to be used in advanced interferometric gravitational wave detectors. We investigate experimentally the limitations to making such measurements in a laboratory environment at audio frequencies. We find that beam jitter noise, electronic noise of the photodetectors, and the LO intensity noise can limit the homodyne detection in this frequency band, and we discuss potential solutions.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)3389-3395
    Number of pages7
    JournalApplied Optics
    Volume46
    Issue number17
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 10 Jun 2007

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