title: Note: Broadband low-noise photodetector for Pound-Drever-Hall laser stabilization.
abstract: The Pound-Drever-Hall laser stabilization technique requires a fast, low-noise photodetector. We present a simple photodetector design that uses a transformer as an intermediary between a photodiode and cascaded low-noise radio-frequency amplifiers. Our implementation using a silicon photodiode yields a detector with 50 MHz bandwidth, gain >10(5) V/A, and input current noise <4 pA/Hz, allowing us to obtain shot-noise-limited performance with low optical power.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Toronto, 60 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A7, Canada.
authors.forename: Shreyas
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Potnis
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Toronto, 60 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A7, Canada.
authors.forename: Amar C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Vutha