Femtosecond-laser-based synthesis of ultrastable microwave signals from optical frequency references.
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.
Bartels
A
A
Time and Frequency Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, Colorado 80305, USA. bartels@gigaoptics.com
Diddams
S A
SA
Oates
C W
CW
Wilpers
G
G
Bergquist
J C
JC
Oskay
W H
WH
Hollberg
L
L