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IEEE Avionics, Fiber-Optics and Photonics Technology Conference (AVFOP)

Fiber based multiple-access stable radio frequency phase delivery

Zhongle Wu, Yitang Dai, Anxu Zhang, Feifei Yin, Kun Xu, Jintong Lin

Published Oct 1, 2013• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Phase-stable radio frequency (RF) transfer attracts a growing research interest and attention in recent years, and transferring high stable RF signal to multiple places is greatly needed in many important applications such as frequency synchronization for very long base-line interferometry and connected-element interferometry in radio astronomy. [1]. For example, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) radio astronomy project is consist of an array of up to 64 antennas, and in order to achieve the unprecedented sensitivity and angular resolution, requires the local oscillator reference signal arriving at remote antennas with a maximum path length up to 18 kilometers must be stabilized under one picosecond [2]. The optical fiber link is a promising method for long-distance highly stable frequency distribution, however it suffers from the environment perturbations such as physical vibration and temperature fluctuations, which degrade the phase stability to be delivered [3].

DOI
10.1109/avfop.2013.6661621

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Phase-stable radio frequency (RF) transfer attracts a growing research interest and attention in recent years, and transferring high stable RF signal to multiple places is greatly needed in many important applications such as frequency synchronization for very long base-line interferometry and connected-element interferometry in radio astronomy. [1]. For example, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) radio astronomy project is consist of an array of up to 64 antennas, and in order to achieve the unprecedented sensitivity and angular resolution, requires the local oscillator reference signal arriving at remote antennas with a maximum path length up to 18 kilometers must be stabilized under one picosecond [2]. The optical fiber link is a promising method for long-distance highly stable frequency distribution, however it suffers from the environment perturbations such as physical vibration and temperature fluctuations, which degrade the phase stability to be delivered [3].
In this Letter, we propose a multiple access fiber-optic radio-frequency transfer, time, and phase synchronization scheme using passive optical coupling and symmetric carrier configuration. In the proposed scheme, the RF signal is distributed to distant nodes via a symmetric carrier configuration, which inherently suppresses link length-dependent phase difference. Access nodes are connected to the fiber link via passive optical coupling. Time signals are generated at each node by leveraging transferred frequency signals and synchronized by time-division multiplexing transmission and active delay compensation. Experimentally, a 2 GHz RF signal is transferred to access and terminal nodes over 20-km and 60-km fiber links, respectively, and compensated separately. The measured frequency stability is better than 4×10 −14 and 2×10 −16 at averaging time of 1 s and 10 4 s, respectively. For the synchronized link, the measured time stability is better than 7 ps at 1 s and 4 ps at 10 4 s. The phase consistency of RF signals is better than 10 ps (2 % of the entire signal cycle) when subjected to changes in link length and system restart.
In this paper, we propose and demonstrate a multiple local oscillator (LO) signal phase stabilization technique for long-distance fiber delivery. One of the LO signals, which acts as a reference single, is round-trip transferred between the central station and the remote end, carrying the phase variation arises from perturbations of the fiber link. The wavelength of the optical carrier is adjusted according to the phase variation of the reference LO, to stabilize the delay of the fiber link. Once the delay of the link is stabilized, the phases of other LO signals that transferred through the same fiber link will all be stabilized. Meanwhile, the delay tunable range is in proportion to the fiber length, which means a very long delivery distance can be expected. Experimentally, LOs at frequencies of 2.46 GHz and 8 GHz are transferred through a 30-km fiber link, and significant phase drift compression is observed at both frequencies.
In this paper, we propose a phase-conjugation-based fast radio frequency (RF) phase auto stabilization technique for long-distance fiber delivery. By phase conjugation at the center site, the proposed scheme pre-phase-promotes the RF signal with the shift which is acquired by round-trip transferring another RF whose frequency is half of the one to be sent. Such phase pre-promotion is then used to counteract exactly the following retard induced by one-way delivery. Different from the previous phase-locking-loop-based schemes, the proposed open-loop design avoids the use of any tunable parts and dynamic phase tracking, enabling a fast phase stabilization at the remote site. An end-less compensation capacity can also be achieved. Our design is analyzed by theory. Experimentally, the new scheme is verified by transferring a frequency of 2.42 GHz through a 30-km optical fiber link. Significant phase drift compression is observed. The rapid phase stabilization is verified by introducing sudden time delay change into the link. The recovery time equals to the round-trip time of the link plus the transitional duration of the delay change, which is much shorter than the traditional trial-and-error phase locking loop. Important issues of the system design are discussed.
In the field of high-frequency radio interferometer, Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA), its highest receiving frequency reaches 950 GHz. To receive such high frequencies, a higher reference frequency is required (as much as over 100 GHz). To maintain signal coherency, this reference signal has to be highly stable. To address these issues, we have developed a new method to generate and transmit a reference signal in the form of frequency difference between two coherent light waves. The two transmitted optical signals require phase stability better than 10-13(1 sec) in white phase noise in the Allan standard deviation.
With the progress in the development of optical frequency standards grows the demand for the dissemination of stable optical frequencies. To date, optical fiber links constitute the most promising medium to bridge large geographical distances while still maintaining a high degree of frequency stability and accuracy. We investigated the transfer of an optical frequency along different fiber links during the past years and achieved a fractional instability and uncertainty at a level lower than 10 − 19 using fiber links with lengths of up to almost 2000 km. We give an overview of different techniques and methods that can be used in combination with optical fiber links to achieve a stable frequency transfer. The results of different fiber links are summarized and an outlook of future links is given.