Robust, portable optical cavities utilising; invar, additive manufacturing and an ultra-stable diamond cavity

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Owen, Freya (2023). Robust, portable optical cavities utilising; invar, additive manufacturing and an ultra-stable diamond cavity. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

Optical cavities provide the stability required for lasers to be utilised in a range of scientific applications, including for quantum technologies. The work described here discusses a range of novel, Fabry-Perot optical cavities which are designed to be utilised within different aspects of quantum technologies. Where firstly, there is an introduction to Fabry-Perot optical cavities with a discussion on their key properties, as well as detailed descriptions of perturbations that affect the stability of Fabry-Perot optical cavities.

The first optical cavity mentioned, is a tunable ULE-FS (ultra-low expansion glass – fused silica) optical cavity to stabilise a currently free running 2.6 µm re-pump laser, for a strontium (Sr) magneto-optical trap. This leads onto descriptions of two invar cavities which are designed to stabilise the first stage of cooling of Sr atoms for portable Sr optical clocks. Where the use of additive manufacturing and selective laser melting is used to build both compact, portable, invar optical cavities. Lastly, two diamond cavities are introduced, where the first is a diamond-diamond optical cavity and the second is a diamond-FS optical cavity. These diamond cavities are found to have simulated acceleration sensitivities as low as 7/9×10\(^{-15}\)/g, which is lower than any other published optical cavity, resulting in these diamond cavities being applicable in deployable optical clocks and other deployable quantum technologies.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):