Ultralow phase noise microwave generation with an Er:fiber-based optical frequency divider

Abstract

We present an optical frequency divider based on a 200 MHz repetition rate Er:fiber mode-locked laser that, when locked to a stable optical frequency reference, generates microwave signals with absolute phase noise that is equal to or better than cryogenic microwave oscillators. At 1 Hz offset from a 10 GHz carrier, the phase noise is below -100 dBc/Hz, limited by the optical reference. For offset frequencies > 10 kHz, the phase noise is shot noise limited at -145 dBc/Hz. An analysis of the contribution of the residual noise from the Er:fiber optical frequency divider is also presented.

4 pages, 3 figures

References in corpus (3)

• Generation of Ultrastable Microwaves via Optical Frequency Division
• Making optical atomic clocks more stable with $10^{-16}$ level laser stabilization
• Characterization of Power-to-Phase Conversion in High-Speed P-I-N Photodiodes

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• Ultralow Phase Noise Microwave Generation From Mode-Locked Er-Fiber Lasers With Subfemtosecond Integrated Timing Jitter
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• Optical amplification and pulse interleaving for low noise photonic microwave generation
• Sub-femtosecond absolute timing precision with a 10 GHz hybrid photonic-microwave oscillator
• Suppression of amplitude-to-phase noise conversion in balanced optical-microwave phase detectors
• Ultra-low phase-noise microwave generation using a diode-pumped solid-state laser based frequency comb and a polarization-maintaining pulse interleaver
• Linewidth enhancement factor measurement based on FM-modulated optical injection: application to rare-earth doped active medium