Fiber laser development for LISA

TL;DR

This paper presents a fiber ring laser with single longitudinal-mode output at 1064nm, suitable for space applications like LISA, featuring low noise, tunability, and robustness due to fiber components and FBG/FFP filtering.

Contribution

Development of a robust, low-noise, single-mode fiber ring laser with fast electro-optic tuning for space-based interferometry applications.

Findings

Achieved single longitudinal-mode operation using FBG and FFP.

Laser exhibits low frequency and intensity noise comparable to NPRO.

Frequency can be electro-optically tuned at 100kHz.

Abstract

We have developed a linearly-polarized Ytterbium-doped fiber ring laser with single longitudinal-mode output at 1064nm for LISA and other space applications. Single longitudinal-mode selection was achieved by using a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) and a fiber Fabry-Perot (FFP). The FFP also serves as a frequency-reference within our ring laser. Our laser exhibits comparable low frequency and intensity noise to Non-Planar Ring Oscillator (NPRO). By using a fiber-coupled phase modulator as a frequency actuator, the laser frequency can be electro-optically tuned at a rate of 100kHz. It appears that our fiber ring laser is promising for space applications where robustness of fiber optics is desirable.