Measurements of the intensity noise of a broadly tunable, erbium-doped fiber ring laser, relative to the standard quantum limit

The intensity noise of an erbium-doped fiber ring laser is measured relative to the standard quantum limit. Over a tuning range of 24 nm, the noise power is within 20 dB of the shot noise floor and varies linearly with laser output power. Oscillations in the noise power spectrum are observed and attributed to beating of the lasing mode with other, strongly damped cavity modes.