Implementation and characterization of a stable optical frequency distribution system

doi:10.1364/OE.17.016849

Implementation and characterization of a stable optical frequency distribution system

Birgitta Bernhardt, Theodor W. Hänsch, and Ronald Holzwarth »View Author Affiliations

Optics Express, Vol. 17, Issue 19, pp. 16849-16860 (2009)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OE.17.016849

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Abstract

An optical frequency distribution system has been developed that continuously delivers a stable optical frequency of 268 THz (corresponding to a wavelength of 1118 nm) to different experiments in our institute. For that purpose, a continuous wave (cw) fiber laser has been stabilized onto a frequency comb and distributed across the building by the use of a fiber network. While the light propagates through the fiber, acoustic and thermal effects counteract against the stability and accuracy of the system. However, by employing proper stabilization methods a stability of 2 x 10⁻¹³ τ^-1/2 is achieved, limited by the available radio frequency (RF) reference. Furthermore, the issue of counter-dependant results of the Allan deviation was examined during the data evaluation.

OCIS Codes
(060.2360) Fiber optics and optical communications : Fiber optics links and subsystems
(140.3510) Lasers and laser optics : Lasers, fiber
(140.3425) Lasers and laser optics : Laser stabilization

ToC Category:
Lasers and Laser Optics

History
Original Manuscript: May 27, 2009
Revised Manuscript: August 6, 2009
Manuscript Accepted: August 21, 2009
Published: September 8, 2009

Citation
Birgitta Bernhardt, Theodor W. Hänsch, and Ronald Holzwarth, "Implementation and characterization of a stable optical frequency distribution system," Opt. Express 17, 16849-16860 (2009)
http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-17-19-16849

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References

M. Niering, R. Holzwarth, J. Reichert, P. Pokasov, Th. Udem, M. Weitz, T. W. Hänsch, P. Lemonde, G. Santarelli, M. Abgrall, P. Laurent, C. Salomon, and A. Clairon, “Measurement of the hydrogen 1S- 2S transition frequency by phase coherent comparison with a microwave cesium fountain clock,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 84(24), 5496–5499 (2000). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
T. Rosenband, D. B. Hume, P. O. Schmidt, C. W. Chou, A. Brusch, L. Lorini, W. H. Oskay, R. E. Drullinger, T. M. Fortier, J. E. Stalnaker, S. A. Diddams, W. C. Swann, N. R. Newbury, W. M. Itano, D. J. Wineland, and J. C. Bergquist, “Frequency ratio of Al+ and Hg+ single-ion optical clocks; metrology at the 17th decimal place,” Science 319(5871), 1808–1812 (2008). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
Th. Udem, S. A. Diddams, K. R. Vogel, C. W. Oates, E. A. Curtis, W. D. Lee, W. M. Itano, R. E. Drullinger, J. C. Bergquist, and L. Hollberg, “Absolute frequency measurements of the Hg+ and Ca optical clock transitions with a femtosecond laser,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 86(22), 4996–4999 (2001). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
S. M. Foreman, K. W. Holman, D. D. Hudson, D. J. Jones, and J. Ye, “Remote transfer of ultrastable frequency references via fiber networks,” Rev. Sci. Instrum. 78(2), 021101 (2007). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
I. Coddington, W. C. Swann, L. Lorini, J. C. Bergquist, Y. L. Coq, C. W. Oates, Q. Quraishi, K. S. Feder, J. W. Nicholson, P. S. Westbrook, S. A. Diddams, and N. R. Newbury, “Coherent optical link over hundreds of metres and hundreds of terahertz with subfemtosecond timing jitter,” Nat. Photonics 1(5), 283–287 (2007). [CrossRef]
O. Lopez, A. Amy-Klein, C. Daussy, Ch. Chardonnet, F. Narbonneau, M. Lours, and G. Santarelli, “86-km optical link with a resolution of 2x10−18 for RF frequency transfer,” E. Phys. J. D 48 (2008) 35–41 (2007).
F.-L. Hong, M. Musha, M. Takamoto, H. Inaba, S. Yanagimachi, A. Takamizawa, K. Watabe, T. Ikegami, M. Imae, Y. Fujii, M. Amemiya, K. Nakagawa, K. Ueda, and H. Katori, “Measuring the frequency of a Sr optical lattice clock using a 120-km coherent optical transfer,” Opt. Lett. 34(5), 692–694 (2009). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
J. Alnis, A. Matveev, N. Kolachevsky, T. Udem, and T. W. Hänsch, “Subhertz linewidth diode lasers by stabilization to vibrationally and thermally compensated ultralow-expansion glass Fabry-Pérot cavities,” Phys. Rev. A 77(5), 053809 (2008). [CrossRef]
R. Holzwarth, Th. Udem, T. W. Hänsch, J. C. Knight, W. J. Wadsworth, and P. St. J. Russell, “Optical frequency synthesizer for precision spectroscopy,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 85(11), 2264–2267 (2000). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
D. J. Jones, S. A. Diddams, J. K. Ranka, A. Stentz, R. S. Windeler, J. L. Hall, and S. T. Cundiff, “Carrier-envelope phase control of femtosecond mode-locked lasers and direct optical frequency synthesis,” Science 288(5466), 635–639 (2000). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
P. Kubina, P. Adel, F. Adler, G. Grosche, T. W. Hänsch, R. Holzwarth, A. Leitenstorfer, B. Lipphardt, and H. Schnatz, “Long term comparison of two fiber based frequency comb systems,” Opt. Express 13(3), 904–909 (2005). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
M. Hijlkema, B. Weber, H. P. Specht, S. C. Webster, A. Kuhn, and G. Rempe, “A Single-Photon Server with Just One Atom,” Nat. Phys. 3(4), 253–255 (2007). [CrossRef]
J. Bochmann, M. Mücke, G. Langfahl-Klabes, C. Erbel, B. Weber, H. P. Specht, D. L. Moehring, and G. Rempe, “Fast excitation and photon emission of a single-atom-cavity system,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 101(22), 223601 (2008). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
M. Herrmann, V. Batteiger, S. Knünz, G. Saathoff, Th. Udem, and T. W. Hänsch, “Frequency metrology on single trapped ions in the weak binding limit: the 3s(1/2)-3p(3/2) transition in 24Mg+.,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 102(1), 013006 (2009). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
D. W. Allan, “Statistics of atomic frequency standards,” Proc. IEEE 54(2), 221–230 (1966). [CrossRef]
E. Rubiola, “On the measurement of frequency and of its sample variance with high-resolution counters,” Rev. Sci. Instrum. 76(5), 054703 (2005). [CrossRef]
S. T. Dawkins, J. J. McFerran, and A. N. Luiten, “Considerations on the measurement of the stability of oscillators with frequency counters,” IEEE Trans. Ultrason. Ferroelectr. Freq. Control 54(5), 918–925 (2007). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
L. S. Ma, Z. Bi, A. Bartels, L. Robertsson, M. Zucco, R. S. Windeler, G. Wilpers, C. Oates, L. Hollberg, and S. A. Diddams, “Optical frequency synthesis and comparison with uncertainty at the 10(-19) level,” Science 303(5665), 1843–1845 (2004). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
G. Grosche, O. Terra, K. Predehl, R. Holzwarth, B. Lipphardt, F. Vogt, U. Sterr, and H. Schnatz, “Optical frequency transfer via 146 km fiber link with 10−19 relative accuracy,” arXiv:0904.2679v1 (2009)

Abgrall, M.
Adel, P.
Adler, F.
Allan, D. W.
Alnis, J.
Amemiya, M.
Amy-Klein, A.
Bartels, A.
Batteiger, V.
Bergquist, J. C.
Bi, Z.
Bochmann, J.
Brusch, A.
Chardonnet, Ch.
Chou, C. W.
Clairon, A.
Coddington, I.
Coq, Y. L.
Cundiff, S. T.
Curtis, E. A.
Daussy, C.
Dawkins, S. T.
Diddams, S. A.
Drullinger, R. E.
Erbel, C.
Feder, K. S.
Foreman, S. M.
Fortier, T. M.
Fujii, Y.
Grosche, G.
Hall, J. L.
Hänsch, T. W.
Herrmann, M.
Hijlkema, M.
Hollberg, L.
Holman, K. W.
Holzwarth, R.
Hong, F.-L.
Hudson, D. D.
Hume, D. B.
Ikegami, T.
Imae, M.
Inaba, H.
Itano, W. M.
Jones, D. J.
Katori, H.
Knight, J. C.
Knünz, S.
Kolachevsky, N.
Kubina, P.
Kuhn, A.
Langfahl-Klabes, G.
Laurent, P.
Lee, W. D.
Leitenstorfer, A.
Lemonde, P.
Lipphardt, B.
Lopez, O.
Lorini, L.
Lours, M.
Luiten, A. N.
Ma, L. S.
Matveev, A.
McFerran, J. J.
Moehring, D. L.
Mücke, M.
Musha, M.
Nakagawa, K.
Narbonneau, F.
Newbury, N. R.
Nicholson, J. W.
Niering, M.
Oates, C.
Oates, C. W.
Oskay, W. H.
Pokasov, P.
Quraishi, Q.
Ranka, J. K.
Reichert, J.
Rempe, G.
Robertsson, L.
Rosenband, T.
Rubiola, E.
Russell, P. St. J.
Saathoff, G.
Salomon, C.
Santarelli, G.
Schmidt, P. O.
Schnatz, H.
Specht, H. P.
Stalnaker, J. E.
Stentz, A.
Swann, W. C.
Takamizawa, A.
Takamoto, M.
Udem, T.
Udem, Th.
Ueda, K.
Vogel, K. R.
Wadsworth, W. J.
Watabe, K.
Weber, B.
Webster, S. C.
Weitz, M.
Westbrook, P. S.
Wilpers, G.
Windeler, R. S.
Wineland, D. J.
Yanagimachi, S.
Ye, J.
Zucco, M.

E. Phys. J. D

O. Lopez, A. Amy-Klein, C. Daussy, Ch. Chardonnet, F. Narbonneau, M. Lours, and G. Santarelli, “86-km optical link with a resolution of 2x10−18 for RF frequency transfer,” E. Phys. J. D 48 (2008) 35–41 (2007).

IEEE Trans. Ultrason. Ferroelectr. Freq. Control

S. T. Dawkins, J. J. McFerran, and A. N. Luiten, “Considerations on the measurement of the stability of oscillators with frequency counters,” IEEE Trans. Ultrason. Ferroelectr. Freq. Control 54(5), 918–925 (2007). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Nat. Photonics

I. Coddington, W. C. Swann, L. Lorini, J. C. Bergquist, Y. L. Coq, C. W. Oates, Q. Quraishi, K. S. Feder, J. W. Nicholson, P. S. Westbrook, S. A. Diddams, and N. R. Newbury, “Coherent optical link over hundreds of metres and hundreds of terahertz with subfemtosecond timing jitter,” Nat. Photonics 1(5), 283–287 (2007). [CrossRef]

Nat. Phys.

M. Hijlkema, B. Weber, H. P. Specht, S. C. Webster, A. Kuhn, and G. Rempe, “A Single-Photon Server with Just One Atom,” Nat. Phys. 3(4), 253–255 (2007). [CrossRef]

Opt. Express

P. Kubina, P. Adel, F. Adler, G. Grosche, T. W. Hänsch, R. Holzwarth, A. Leitenstorfer, B. Lipphardt, and H. Schnatz, “Long term comparison of two fiber based frequency comb systems,” Opt. Express 13(3), 904–909 (2005). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Opt. Lett.

F.-L. Hong, M. Musha, M. Takamoto, H. Inaba, S. Yanagimachi, A. Takamizawa, K. Watabe, T. Ikegami, M. Imae, Y. Fujii, M. Amemiya, K. Nakagawa, K. Ueda, and H. Katori, “Measuring the frequency of a Sr optical lattice clock using a 120-km coherent optical transfer,” Opt. Lett. 34(5), 692–694 (2009). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Phys. Rev. A

J. Alnis, A. Matveev, N. Kolachevsky, T. Udem, and T. W. Hänsch, “Subhertz linewidth diode lasers by stabilization to vibrationally and thermally compensated ultralow-expansion glass Fabry-Pérot cavities,” Phys. Rev. A 77(5), 053809 (2008). [CrossRef]

Phys. Rev. Lett.

R. Holzwarth, Th. Udem, T. W. Hänsch, J. C. Knight, W. J. Wadsworth, and P. St. J. Russell, “Optical frequency synthesizer for precision spectroscopy,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 85(11), 2264–2267 (2000). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
M. Niering, R. Holzwarth, J. Reichert, P. Pokasov, Th. Udem, M. Weitz, T. W. Hänsch, P. Lemonde, G. Santarelli, M. Abgrall, P. Laurent, C. Salomon, and A. Clairon, “Measurement of the hydrogen 1S- 2S transition frequency by phase coherent comparison with a microwave cesium fountain clock,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 84(24), 5496–5499 (2000). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
Th. Udem, S. A. Diddams, K. R. Vogel, C. W. Oates, E. A. Curtis, W. D. Lee, W. M. Itano, R. E. Drullinger, J. C. Bergquist, and L. Hollberg, “Absolute frequency measurements of the Hg+ and Ca optical clock transitions with a femtosecond laser,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 86(22), 4996–4999 (2001). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
J. Bochmann, M. Mücke, G. Langfahl-Klabes, C. Erbel, B. Weber, H. P. Specht, D. L. Moehring, and G. Rempe, “Fast excitation and photon emission of a single-atom-cavity system,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 101(22), 223601 (2008). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
M. Herrmann, V. Batteiger, S. Knünz, G. Saathoff, Th. Udem, and T. W. Hänsch, “Frequency metrology on single trapped ions in the weak binding limit: the 3s(1/2)-3p(3/2) transition in 24Mg+.,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 102(1), 013006 (2009). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Proc. IEEE

D. W. Allan, “Statistics of atomic frequency standards,” Proc. IEEE 54(2), 221–230 (1966). [CrossRef]

Rev. Sci. Instrum.

E. Rubiola, “On the measurement of frequency and of its sample variance with high-resolution counters,” Rev. Sci. Instrum. 76(5), 054703 (2005). [CrossRef]
S. M. Foreman, K. W. Holman, D. D. Hudson, D. J. Jones, and J. Ye, “Remote transfer of ultrastable frequency references via fiber networks,” Rev. Sci. Instrum. 78(2), 021101 (2007). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Science

T. Rosenband, D. B. Hume, P. O. Schmidt, C. W. Chou, A. Brusch, L. Lorini, W. H. Oskay, R. E. Drullinger, T. M. Fortier, J. E. Stalnaker, S. A. Diddams, W. C. Swann, N. R. Newbury, W. M. Itano, D. J. Wineland, and J. C. Bergquist, “Frequency ratio of Al+ and Hg+ single-ion optical clocks; metrology at the 17th decimal place,” Science 319(5871), 1808–1812 (2008). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
D. J. Jones, S. A. Diddams, J. K. Ranka, A. Stentz, R. S. Windeler, J. L. Hall, and S. T. Cundiff, “Carrier-envelope phase control of femtosecond mode-locked lasers and direct optical frequency synthesis,” Science 288(5466), 635–639 (2000). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
L. S. Ma, Z. Bi, A. Bartels, L. Robertsson, M. Zucco, R. S. Windeler, G. Wilpers, C. Oates, L. Hollberg, and S. A. Diddams, “Optical frequency synthesis and comparison with uncertainty at the 10(-19) level,” Science 303(5665), 1843–1845 (2004). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Other

G. Grosche, O. Terra, K. Predehl, R. Holzwarth, B. Lipphardt, F. Vogt, U. Sterr, and H. Schnatz, “Optical frequency transfer via 146 km fiber link with 10−19 relative accuracy,” arXiv:0904.2679v1 (2009)

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