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Title: Balanced optical-microwave phase detector for sub-femtosecond optical-RF synchronization

Journal Article · · Optics Express
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.22.027102· OSTI ID:1221785
 [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
  2. Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (Germany)
  3. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (Germany); Univ. of Hamburg and the Hamburg Center for Ultrafast Imaging, Hamburg (Germany)
+ Show Author Affiliations

We demonstrate that balanced optical-microwave phase detectors (BOMPD) are capable of optical-RF synchronization with sub-femtosecond residual timing jitter for large-scale timing distribution systems. RF-to-optical synchronization is achieved with a long-term stability of < 1 fs RMS and < 7 fs pk-pk drift for over 10 hours and short-term stability of < 2 fs RMS jitter integrated from 1 Hz to 200 kHz as well as optical-to-RF synchronization with 0.5 fs RMS jitter integrated from 1 Hz to 20 kHz. Moreover, we achieve a –161 dBc/Hz noise floor that integrates well into the sub-fs regime and measure a nominal 50-dB AM-PM suppression ratio with potential improvement via DC offset adjustment.

Research Organization:
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0005262
OSTI ID:
1221785
Journal Information:
Optics Express, Vol. 22, Issue 22; ISSN 1094-4087
Publisher:
Optical Society of America (OSA)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 41 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (24)

Ultralow noise microwave generation with fiber-based optical frequency comb and application to atomic fountain clock journal April 2009
Photonic microwave generation with high-power photodiodes journal January 2013
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Drift-free femtosecond timing synchronization of remote optical and microwave sources journal November 2008
Ultra-stable microwave generation with a diode-pumped solid-state laser in the 1.5-μm range journal December 2013
Dual photo-detector system for low phase noise microwave generation with femtosecond lasers journal January 2014
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Suppression of amplitude-to-phase noise conversion in balanced optical-microwave phase detectors journal January 2013
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Generation of Ultrastable Microwaves via Optical Frequency Division text January 2011
Amplitude to phase conversion of InGaAs pin photo-diodes for femtosecond lasers microwave signal generation text January 2011
Ultralow Phase Noise Microwave Generation From Mode-Locked Er-Fiber Lasers With Subfemtosecond Integrated Timing Jitter text January 2013
Photonic microwave generation with high-power photodiodes text January 2013
Suppression of amplitude-to-phase noise conversion in balanced optical-microwave phase detectors text January 2013

Cited By (8)

Ultra-precise timing and synchronization for large-scale scientific instruments text January 2018
Simple-structured, subfemtosecond-resolution optical-microwave phase detector journal January 2018
Optimizing the linearity in high-speed photodiodes journal January 2018
Photonic Generation of High Power, Ultrastable Microwave Signals by Vernier Effect in a Femtosecond Laser Frequency Comb journal January 2018
Attosecond precision multi-kilometer laser-microwave network text January 2017
Ultra-precise timing and synchronization for large-scale scientific instruments journal January 2018
Attosecond precision multi-kilometer laser-microwave network journal July 2016
Optimizing the linearity in high-speed photodiodes text January 2018

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46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
phase measurement
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laser stabilization
sagnac effect
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