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Optics Express

Optical frequency distribution using laser repeater stations with planar lightwave circuits

Tomoya Akatsuka, Takashi Goh, Hiromitsu Imai, Katsuya Oguri, Atsushi Ishizawa, Ichiro Ushijima, Noriaki Ohmae, Masao Takamoto, Hidetoshi Katori, Toshikazu Hashimoto, Hideki Gotoh, Tetsuomi Sogawa

Published Feb 15, 2020• 55 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We report a cascaded optical fiber link which connects laboratories in RIKEN, the University of Tokyo, and NTT within a 100-km region using a transfer light at 1397 nm, a subharmonic of the Sr clock frequency. The multiple cascaded link employing several laser repeater stations benefits from a wide feedback bandwidth for fiber noise compensation, which allows constructing optical lattice clock networks based on the master-slave configuration. We developed the laser repeater stations based on planar lightwave circuits to significantly reduce the interferometer noise for improved link stability. We implemented a 240-km-long cascaded link in a UTokyo–NTT–UTokyo loop using light sent from RIKEN via a 30-km-long link. In environments with large fiber noise, the link instability is 3 × 10−16 at an averaging time of 1 s and reaches 1 × 10−18 at 2,600 s.

DOI
10.1364/oe.383526

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The transfer of ultra-stable frequencies between distant laboratories is required by many applications from fundamental metrology to high-precision measurements. For that purpose, optical fibre links have been intensively studied over the last decade. They have demonstrated impressive results far beyond the GPS capabilities on distances up to 2000 km, thanks to an active compensation of the fiber propagation noise.Up to now, optical links has been mainly implemented between two labs, when future applications will require the development of metrological fiber networks. Towards this goal, we have developed a few techniques which allow us to distribute the ultrastable optical signal to many users simultaneously. We have designed repeater laser stations, which can be used to build a cascaded link or to distribute the ultrastable signal among two optical links [1]. These stations allow us also to compare the output end signals of two optical links. These versatile stations will be a key-component of the national metrological network currently being developed in France within the Refimeve+ project. To complete the network, we have demonstrated the extraction of the ultrastable signal from a main link and its seeding to a secondary link [2].Optical links are already been successfully used for clocks comparison. Recently we were able to compare the atomic clocks of the French and German National Metrology Institutes through two connected optical links of total length 1415-km [3]. We found that the two fully independent Sr lattice optical clocks at the two sites agreed to better than 5x10-17 limited only by the clocks uncertainties. A fractional statistical uncertainty of 3x10-17 was reached after only 1000 s averaging time, which is 10 times better, and more than four orders of magnitude faster than with any other existing frequency transfer method. The atomic fountain primary frequency standards from the two institutes were also compared and they were found to agree well within their combined uncertainties of a few 10-16 [4].

•Jan 1, 2017•0 citations
We report a cascaded optical fiber link which connects laboratories in RIKEN, the University of Tokyo, and NTT within a 100-km region using a transfer light at 1397 nm, a subharmonic of the Sr clock frequency. The multiple cascaded link employing several laser repeater stations benefits from a wide feedback bandwidth for fiber noise compensation, which allows constructing optical lattice clock networks based on the master-slave configuration. We developed the laser repeater stations based on planar lightwave circuits to significantly reduce the interferometer noise for improved link stability. We implemented a 240-km-long cascaded link in a UTokyo–NTT–UTokyo loop using light sent from RIKEN via a 30-km-long link. In environments with large fiber noise, the link instability is 3 × 10−16 at an averaging time of 1 s and reaches 1 × 10−18 at 2,600 s.
We demonstrate a 30-km-long optical fiber link for frequency comparison between two strontium optical lattice clocks being developed at Riken and the University of Tokyo. We use a transfer laser at 1397 nm which is twice the wavelength of the clock transition of strontium clocks. The link stability is estimated to be 1×1017for an averaging time τ = 1 s, which is in good agreement with the theoretical limit calculated from the fiber noise spectrum. We discuss a remote clock comparison with stability of 10 (τ/s) by synchronously operating the two distant clocks.
We demonstrate a 30-km-long optical fiber link for frequency comparison between two strontium optical lattice clocks being developed at RIKEN and the University of Tokyo. We use a transfer laser at 1397 nm, which is twice the wavelength of the clock transition of strontium clocks. The link stability is estimated to be 1 × 10−17 for an averaging time of τ = 1 s, which is in good agreement with the theoretical limit calculated from the fiber noise spectrum. We discuss a remote clock comparison with a stability of 1 × 10−17(τ/s)−1/2 by synchronously operating two distant clocks.
We transfer the frequency of an ultra-stable laser over a cascaded optical link comprising two compensated links of 150 km and a repeater station. Each link passes through two important nodes of the telecommunication network and includes 114 km of Internet fiber simultaneously carrying data traffic, through a dense wavelength division multiplexing scheme. The metrological signal is inserted in and extracted from the communication network using bidirectional optical add-drop multiplexers. The repeater station is working independently without any remote control. The phase noise on the two links is compensated with the usual round-trip technique. The 300-km multiplexed cascaded link shows an Allan deviation of 3×10-15at one second and 7×10-20at 20 hours. This work paves the way to a wide dissemination of ultra stable optical clock signals between distant laboratories via the Internet network.
The transfer of ultra-stable frequencies between distant laboratories is required by many applications from fundamental metrology to high-precision measurements. For that purpose, optical fibre links have been intensively studied over the last decade. They have demonstrated impressive results far beyond the GPS capabilities on distances up to 2000 km, thanks to an active compensation of the fiber propagation noise.Up to now, optical links has been mainly implemented between two labs, when future applications will require the development of metrological fiber networks. Towards this goal, we have developed a few techniques which allow us to distribute the ultrastable optical signal to many users simultaneously. We have designed repeater laser stations, which can be used to build a cascaded link or to distribute the ultrastable signal among two optical links [1]. These stations allow us also to compare the output end signals of two optical links. These versatile stations will be a key-component of the national metrological network currently being developed in France within the Refimeve+ project. To complete the network, we have demonstrated the extraction of the ultrastable signal from a main link and its seeding to a secondary link [2].Optical links are already been successfully used for clocks comparison. Recently we were able to compare the atomic clocks of the French and German National Metrology Institutes through two connected optical links of total length 1415-km [3]. We found that the two fully independent Sr lattice optical clocks at the two sites agreed to better than 5x10-17 limited only by the clocks uncertainties. A fractional statistical uncertainty of 3x10-17 was reached after only 1000 s averaging time, which is 10 times better, and more than four orders of magnitude faster than with any other existing frequency transfer method. The atomic fountain primary frequency standards from the two institutes were also compared and they were found to agree well within their combined uncertainties of a few 10-16 [4].