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Principle of single side-band modulation. Credit: S. Shimotsu et al [1]

Synopsis

A topic with a short-term Engineering project and Physics project, to investigate using optical single side-band modulators for interferometric measurements.

Description

Optical single side-band modulators (SSBM) [1] offer the prospect of generating multiple laser frequencies/wavelengths from a single input laser source. This potentially allows for generating “multiple lasers” with identical light noise properties, and advantages for noise subtraction/ noise cancellation in interferometric measurements.

This topic has two potential short-term projects:

• An Engineering project to develop an electronic controller/driver for an SSBM using Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). Can we drive/control an SSBM to have multiple/ multiplexed sideband outputs?
• A Physics project to investigate the noise properties of the output of a SSBM. Is the output "quiet" enough to be able to control a table-top optical cavity? 

[1] S. Shimotsu et al., "Single side-band modulation performance of a LiNbO3 integrated modulator consisting of four-phase modulator waveguides," in IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 364-366, April 2001, doi: 10.1109/68.917854.

Required background

For the Engineering Project, some programming experience (for e.g. Python) is necessary.

For the Physics Project, some optics experience (for e.g. via the second year Physics Lab course or other Research Topics) would be valuable, but not essential. 

Research fields