Ultra-stable 1064-nm neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet lasers with 2.5 x 10-16 frequency instability

Cavity-stabilized ultra-stable optical oscillators are one of the core ingredients in the ground-based or spaceborne precision measurements such as optical frequency metrology, test of special relativity, and gravitational wave observation. We report in detail the development of two ultra-stable systems based on 1064-nm neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet lasers and 20-cm optical cavities. The optical cavities adopt ultra-low-loss silica mirrors with compensating rings. An electro-optic crystal with a wedged angle is used to reduce the residual amplitude modulation. Using two-stage thermal control, long-term stabilities of 100 mu K are achieved for the outer wall of the vacuum chamber housing the optical cavity. Two additional thermal shields increased the time constant of the optical cavities to 70 h. By operating the optical cavity at the temperature of zero coefficient of thermal expansion, the frequency stability reaches 2.5 x 10(-16) at 10 s averaging time and remains below 5 x 10(-16) with an extended time of 1000 s after removing the first- and second-order drifts. The dependence of the laser linewidth on the measurement time is tested against a simplified theoretical model.