Job Offer from January 23, 2023
Squeezed light sources have been routinely used in the past years to improve the sensitivity of gravitational-wave detectors (GWDs) beyond their shot noise limitation. The used squeezed vacuum states of light are highly susceptible to optical loss and misalignment. Therefore, a low optical loss and alignment stable transfer method might be beneficial to transfer squeezed states of light from the squeezer to the main vacuum system of a GWD.
We want to test the potential of optical fibers to transfer strongly squeezed states of light to a vacuum chamber and detect them with an in-vacuum homodyne detector, which also has to be designed.
This should allow a direct comparison to results obtained with squeezed light sources built in-vacuum to in-air squeezed light generation, which are currently better performing, and its fiber transfer to a vacuum chamber.
A reliable and straightforward transfer method for squeezed states of light could also enable the straightforward enhancement of other shot noise-limited metrology experiments.
Your tasks
- The optical loss characterization of a transport fiber with endcaps.
- Mechanical and electric design as well as assembly and test of an in-vacuum homodyne detector for squeezed light detection. (Optional with a tunable beam-splitting mirror).
- Operation and modification of a squeezed light source to efficiently couple squeezed states of light to a transport fiber (see ref. below).
- Characterization of the transfer efficiency for the squeezed states of light to compare this technique against an in-vacuum generation of squeezed light.
(Approximate work division: 40% laser lab work / 10% assembly of electric circuits / 50% computer design, simulation, and data evaluation with, e.g., Inventor, Eagle, MATLAB/Python, Gnuplot)
Contact
Literature
Squeezed States of Light for Future Gravitational Wave Detectors at a Wavelength of 1550 nm. Physical Review Letters 129 (12), 121103 (2022)
