Shot-noise-limited laser power stabilization with a high-power photodiode array

Abstract

The output power of a cw Nd:YAG laser was stabilized in a dc-coupled feedback loop with a low-noise multiphotodiode detector and an electro-optic amplitude modulator in the frequency band from 1 Hz to 1 kHz. For the first time, to our knowledge, an independently measured relative power noise of 2.4 x 10(-9) Hz(-1/2) at 10 Hz was achieved, fulfilling the power stability requirements of the Advanced LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) gravitational wave detector.