  We demonstrate an ultralow-noise microrod-resonator based laser that
oscillates on the gain supplied by the stimulated Brillouin scattering optical
nonlinearity. Microresonator Brillouin lasers are known to offer an outstanding
frequency noise floor, which is limited by fundamental thermal fluctuations.
Here, we show experimental evidence that thermal effects also dominate the
close-to-carrier frequency fluctuations. The 6-mm diameter microrod resonator
used in our experiments has a large optical mode area of ~100 {\mu}m$^2$, and
hence its 10 ms thermal time constant filters the close-to-carrier optical
frequency noise. The result is an absolute laser linewidth of 240 Hz with a
corresponding white-frequency noise floor of 0.1 Hz$^2$/Hz. We explain the
steady-state performance of this laser by measurements of its operation state
and of its mode detuning and lineshape. Our results highlight a mechanism for
noise that is common to many microresonator devices due to the inherent
coupling between intracavity power and mode frequency. We demonstrate the
ability to reduce this noise through a feedback loop that stabilizes the
intracavity power.
