We demonstrate for a passive optical cavity containing a dispersive atomicmedium, the increase in scale factor near the critical anomalous dispersion isnot cancelled by mode broadening or attenuation, resulting in an overallincrease in the predicted quantum-noise-limited sensitivity. Enhancements ofover two orders of magnitude are measured in the scale factor, which translatesto greater than an order-of-magnitude enhancement in the predictedquantum-noise-limited measurement precision, by temperature tuning alow-pressure vapor of non-interacting atoms in a low-finesse cavity close tothe critical anomalous dispersion condition. The predicted enhancement insensitivity is confirmed through Monte-Carlo numerical simulations.
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