Title :
Low-drift and low-jitter microwave signal synthesis from mode-locked lasers
Author :
Kim, Jungwon ; Kärtner, Franz X.
Author_Institution :
Res. Lab. of Electron., Massachusetts Inst. of Technol., Cambridge, MA
Abstract :
The conversion of optical signals into electronic signals is the major bottleneck in transfer of timing stability. Excess phase noise and drift in the photodetection processes limits the achievable microwave signal quality. We report on the microwave signal synthesis from mode-locked lasers using a new type of an optoelectronic phase-locked loop (PLL). This PLL is based on the phase detection between optical pulse trains and microwave signals in a differentially-biased Sagnac loop interferometer. The measured out-of-loop timing jitter in a 1 MHz bandwidth integrated over 10 hours is 6.8 fs (rms). The relative timing stability in the microwave signal read-out process reaches 1.9times10-19 in 36000 seconds.
Keywords :
laser mode locking; microwave photonics; optical phase locked loops; phase noise; signal synthesis; PLL; differentially-biased Sagnac loop interferometer; electronic signal; low-jitter microwave signal synthesis; mode-locked laser; optical pulse train; optical signal; optoelectronic phase-locked loop; photodetection process; read-out process; relative timing stability; Laser mode locking; Laser noise; Masers; Optical interferometry; Phase locked loops; Sagnac interferometers; Signal processing; Signal synthesis; Stability; Timing;
Conference_Titel :
Frequency Control Symposium, 2008 IEEE International
Conference_Location :
Honolulu, HI
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-1794-0
Electronic_ISBN :
1075-6787
DOI :
10.1109/FREQ.2008.4623040