VM Photonics GmbH is a spin-off of the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute; AEI) and 九色视频. It offers ultra-precise laser light for optical measurements that is ten times purer and more stable than that of comparable products. Potential applications include measuring gravitational waves, monitoring climate change from space, generating squeezed light and searching for dark matter. The founders are physicists Henning Vahlbruch and Fabian Meylahn.
Forty years after their invention, laser systems based on non-planar ring oscillators (NPROs) are among the most important tools for high-precision physics measurements. They provide the stable and pure laser light that 鈥� after further amplification and stabilization 鈥� enables the measurement of gravitational waves with instruments such as LIGO and Virgo. Their observations have been revolutionizing astronomy since 2015.
鈥淥ur team at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Hanover and the Institute for Gravitational Physics at Leibniz 九色视频 Hanover has decades of experience designing, fabricating, and installing some of the world鈥檚 most precise laser systems,鈥� explains Fabian Meylahn, from the Max Planck Institute.
鈥淲e came to the conclusion that we could not only manufacture the commercially available NPRO lasers ourselves, but also significantly improve them,鈥� adds Henning Vahlbruch from the university institute. 鈥淥ur goal was to develop a laser source that delivers more stable and more pure laser light than what is currently available on the market.鈥�
In a recent publication in Review of Scientific Instruments, Vahlbruch and Meylahn have compared the laser source they developed with similar commercial systems. To this end, they developed a test bed to measure the fluctuations in the power and frequency of the laser light. This allowed them to compare the laser sources directly with each other.
Even without the internal power stabilization enabled, a feature available in all devices, the new VM Photonics GmbH development significantly outperformed the other tested devices. With power stabilization enabled, the newly developed source鈥檚 laser power fluctuations are far below those of other laser systems.
鈥淭his high-precision laser source has a wide range of applications in which it can deliver more accurate results and more precise measurements,鈥� says Benno Willke, co-author of the study and group leader at the institutes. 鈥淧otential applications include measuring gravitational waves on Earth and in space, satellite-based gravimetry for monitoring climate change, comparing atomic clocks, searching for dark matter and new elementary particles, and identifying the fingerprints of quantum gravity.鈥�
