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The General Quantum Limit for and the Optimization of the Minimum Measurable Frequency Shift in a Laser
Abstract
We show that, contrary to conventional understanding, the minimum measurable frequency shift (MMFS) for a single-mode ideal laser is determined by a combination of phase diffusion caused by SE and the shot noise caused by the VM. For all practical sensors, the MMFS is found to be given by the geometric mean of the measurement bandwidth and the Schwalow-Townes Linewidth, multiplied by a factor which can be much larger than unity under certain conditions. We determine the optimal value for the MMFS for three different sensing modalities, an unbalanced Mach-Zehnder Interferometer, a passive Fabry-Perot cavity (FPC), and heterodyning with a reference laser, and identify the conditions needed for reaching the optimal value.
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BibTeX
@misc{shahriar2026general,
title = {{The General Quantum Limit for and the Optimization of the Minimum Measurable Frequency Shift in a Laser}},
author = {Selim M. Shahriar and Ruoxi Zhu and Jinyang Li and Zifan Zhou and Dustin Greenwood and Yael Sternfeld and Michal Hazan and Yehonatan Zolti and Jacob Scheuer and David Smith},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2607.10518},
eprint = {2607.10518},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.10518},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - The General Quantum Limit for and the Optimization of the Minimum Measurable Frequency Shift in a Laser
AU - Selim M. Shahriar
AU - Ruoxi Zhu
AU - Jinyang Li
AU - Zifan Zhou
AU - Dustin Greenwood
AU - Yael Sternfeld
AU - Michal Hazan
AU - Yehonatan Zolti
AU - Jacob Scheuer
AU - David Smith
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/21
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2607.10518
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.10518
AB - We show that, contrary to conventional understanding, the minimum measurable frequency shift (MMFS) for a single-mode ideal laser is determined by a combination of phase diffusion caused by SE and the shot noise caused by the VM. For all practical sensors, the MMFS is found to be given by the geometric mean of the measurement bandwidth and the Schwalow-Townes Linewidth, multiplied by a factor which can be much larger than unity under certain conditions. We determine the optimal value for the MMFS for three different sensing modalities, an unbalanced Mach-Zehnder Interferometer, a passive Fabry-Perot cavity (FPC), and heterodyning with a reference laser, and identify the conditions needed for reaching the optimal value.
ER -