Measurement and feed-forward correction of the fast phase noise of lasers

Abstract

Lasers are the workhorse of quantum engineering in the atomic-molecular-optic community. However, phase noise of the laser, which can be especially large in popular semiconductor-based lasers, can limit fidelity of operation. Here, we present a fully-fiberized instrument detecting and correcting the fast, sub-microsecond, phase fluctuations of lasers. We demonstrate a measurement noise floor of less than 0.1 Hz$^{2}$/Hz, and a noise suppression of more than 20 dB for Fourier frequencies in the 1 to 10 MHz region (reaching up to 30 dB at 3 MHz), where noise is critical for Rydberg-based quantum gates. Finally, we observe the improvement offered by this fast phase noise eater on a Raman transition driven by two such stabilized lasers. These measurement and correction techniques are important tools for high-fidelity manipulation of the excited electronic states of atoms and molecules.