title: Femtosecond-laser-based synthesis of ultrastable microwave signals from optical frequency references.
abstract: We use femtosecond laser frequency combs to convert optical frequency references to the microwave domain, where we demonstrate the synthesis of 10-GHz signals having a fractional frequency instability of < or =3.5 x 10(-15) at a 1-s averaging time, limited by the optical reference. The residual instability and phase noise of the femtosecond-laser-based frequency synthesizers are 6.5 x 10(-16) at 1 s and -98 dBc/Hz at a 1-Hz offset from the 10-GHz carrier, respectively. The timing jitter of the microwave signals is 3.3 fs.
authors.affiliation: Time and Frequency Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, Colorado 80305, USA. bartels@gigaoptics.com
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bartels
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Diddams
authors.forename: C W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Oates
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wilpers
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Bergquist
authors.forename: W H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Oskay
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hollberg