Following up from my previous post I measured the phase noise of the Mach Zehnder setup with the AOM driven properly with its VCO. The setup is shown in attachment 1, and compressed data in attachment 2 (goto here to get the python library to decompress this data). The value of M for this data shown is +0.85 V, though I have data for other voltages - however it should affect the performance. Using the low frequency preview I was able to see that I would need to coherently subtract the phase measurements of both measurements, which restricted me to a maximum sampling frequency of 15 kHz.

The measured data is shown in attachment 3. Already you can see that the phase noise of the VCO limits the measured phase from the IFO. This also tells me that previously, when I was modulating the VCO, the AM was affecting the measured phase. When I convert this difference into frequency noise the result can be seen in attachment 4. One upside of this setup is that the signal from the IFO is much more robust, so the PLL can stay locked for longer. This is a consquency of increased drive, 24 dB more, on the AOM.

To me this demonstrates that the way forward is to replace the VCO driving the AOM with a RF amplifier, driven by a low noise (or lower noise) signal generator. The Moku is able to drive at 80 MHz. We have a Mini Circuits ZHL-5W-1 (ZHL--5W) amplifier in the laboratory. This has 46.4 dB of gain, and a maximum power output of 37 dBm. The maximum power that can be input into the AOM is 27.8 dBm (0.6 W). Thus with an appropriate setup this miniciruits amplifier should be a viable repalcement for the current VCO.