[Aidan, Kiwamu]

Kiwamu and I plugged the output from a DS3456 function generator into the ADC and started recording the data. The func. generator output a 237.8Hz, 1Vpp sine wave. We chose this value because it corresponds to the FSR of a 38.5m cavity (=3.896MHz) divided by 2^14, the frequency divider amount we intend to use.

Since 1 FSR divided down is 237.8Hz and corresponds to a length change of the cavity of 532nm/2 = 266nm, then we can, roughly, say that a frequency change of 1Hz corresponds to a length change in the cavity of approximately 1nm. The width of the 237.8Hz peak in the spectra corresponds to an upper limit on the noise floor due to digitizing the signal (this could be limited by the ADC, or the function generator, or the windowing on the FFT).

The FWHM of the peak in the spectrum was approximately 5mHz, corresponding to an uncertainty in the length of the cavity of about 6pm (we used a Hanning Window, 50% overlap and a BW of 2.92mHz, 7 averages). Regardless of what is the dominant contribution to the width of the peak, this implies that the frequency noise associated with digitizing a signal in the ADC is much smaller than we require and will not limit our performance if we choose to use a frequency divider and digital PLL with the Green Locking.

RA: Here's the previous measurement