Letter abstract
Nature Photonics 1, 283 - 287 (2007)
Published online: 1 May 2007 | doi:10.1038/nphoton.2007.71
Subject Category: Fundamental optical physics
Coherent optical link over hundreds of metres and hundreds of terahertz with subfemtosecond timing jitter
I. Coddington1, W. C. Swann1, L. Lorini2, J. C. Bergquist1, Y. Le Coq3, C. W. Oates1, Q. Quraishi1, K. S. Feder4, J. W. Nicholson4, P. S. Westbrook4, S. A. Diddams1 & N. R. Newbury1
Abstract
Recent developments in stabilized lasers have resulted in ultrastable optical oscillators with spectral purities below 1 Hz refs 1–6. These oscillators are not transportable at present and operate at a single frequency. To realize their full potential, a highly coherent, frequency-diverse fibre-optic network is needed to faithfully transfer the optical signals to remote sites and to different optical frequencies. Here we demonstrate such a coherent network composed of erbium fibre and Ti:sapphire laser-based, optical-frequency combs7, 8, 9, stabilized optical-fibre links4, 10 and cavity-stabilized lasers4, 5, 6. We coherently transmit an optical carrier over 750 m of optical fibre with conversions to wavelengths of 657, 767, 1,126 and 1,535 nm, an overall timing jitter of 590 attoseconds, and a frequency instability of 12 mHz for the 195 THz carrier in 1 s and 250 
Hz in 1,000 s. This first remote synchronization of two frequency combs also demonstrates a factor of 30 improvement in the relative stability of fibre frequency combs11, 12.
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, 325 Broadway M.S. 815 Boulder, Colorado 80305, USA
- Present address: Instituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica INRiM, Strada delle Cacce 91, I-10135 Torino, Italy
- Present address: LNE-SYRTE Observatoire de Paris, 61 avenue de l'Observatoire 75014 Paris, France
- OFS Laboratories,19 Schoolhouse Road, Somerset, New Jersey 08873, USA
Correspondence to: N. R. Newbury1 e-mail: nnewbury@boulder.nist.gov
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