Highly sensitive frequency metrology for optical anisotropy measurements
arXiv:1002.3812 · doi:10.1063/1.3356731
Abstract
In this paper we present a novel apparatus aimed at measuring very small birefringences and anisotropies, based on frequency metrology and not on polarimetry as usual. In our experiment, a very high finesse resonant cavity is used to convert the phase difference into a resonance frequency difference, which can then be measured with very high accuracy. We describe the set-up and present the results of experimental tests which exhibited a sensitivity dn ~ 2 x 10?18, allowing for the measurement of long-predicted magneto-electro-optical effects in gases. Since the shotnoise limited sensitivity of our apparatus lies well below the state-of-the-art sensitivity, frequency metrology appears as a promising technique for small birefringence measurements.
Accepted for publication in Review of Scientific Instruments
References in corpus (4)
- New PVLAS results and limits on magnetically induced optical rotation and ellipticity in vacuum
- Direct measurement of diurnal polar motion by ring laser gyroscopes
- The BMV experiment : a novel apparatus to study the propagation of light in a transverse magnetic field
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Cited by in corpus (6)
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- Observation of magneto-electric non-reciprocity in molecular nitrogen gas
- Thermorefringent noise in crystalline optical materials
- Towards a first observation of magneto-electric directional anisotropy and linear birefringence in gases