Thermal noise-limited laser stabilization to an 8 mL volume Fabry-Pérot reference cavity with microfabricated mirrors

Lasers stabilized to vacuum-gap Fabry-Pérot optical reference cavities display extraordinarily low noise and high stability, with linewidths much less than 1 Hz. These lasers can expand into new applications and ubiquitous use with the development of compact, portable cavities that are manufacturable at scale. Here we demonstrate an 8 mL volume Fabry-Pérot cavity constructed with mirrors that are fabricated lithographically with finesse near 1 million. A laser locked to the cavity exhibits phase noise limited by the cavity thermal noise for offset frequencies ranging from 1 Hz to $\approx$ 1 kHz, with a fractional frequency stability of 7$\times$10$^{-15}$ at 1 second. Furthermore, the use of microfabricated mirrors allows us to expand the design space of centimeter-scale cavities, and we explore the noise implications of pushing towards cavity volumes of 2 mL or less.

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