Comparing ultrastable lasers at 7 × 10−17 fractional frequency instability through a 2220 km optical fibre network

verfasst von
M. Schioppo, J. Kronjäger, A. Silva, R. Ilieva, J. W. Paterson, C. F.A. Baynham, W. Bowden, I. R. Hill, R. Hobson, A. Vianello, M. Dovale-Álvarez, R. A. Williams, G. Marra, H. S. Margolis, A. Amy-Klein, O. Lopez, E. Cantin, H. Álvarez-Martínez, R. Le Targat, P. E. Pottie, N. Quintin, T. Legero, S. Häfner, U. Sterr, R. Schwarz, S. Dörscher, C. Lisdat, S. Koke, A. Kuhl, T. Waterholter, E. Benkler, G. Grosche
Abstract

Ultrastable lasers are essential tools in optical frequency metrology enabling unprecedented measurement precision that impacts on fields such as atomic timekeeping, tests of fundamental physics, and geodesy. To characterise an ultrastable laser it needs to be compared with a laser of similar performance, but a suitable system may not be available locally. Here, we report a comparison of two geographically separated lasers, over the longest ever reported metrological optical fibre link network, measuring 2220 km in length, at a state-of-the-art fractional-frequency instability of 7 × 10 −17 for averaging times between 30 s and 200 s. The measurements also allow the short-term instability of the complete optical fibre link network to be directly observed without using a loop-back fibre. Based on the characterisation of the noise in the lasers and optical fibre link network over different timescales, we investigate the potential for disseminating ultrastable light to improve the performance of remote optical clocks.

Externe Organisation(en)
National Physical Laboratory
Universite Paris 13
Observatoire de Paris (OBSPARIS)
Real Instituto y Observatorio de la Armada (ROA)
Réseau National de télécommunications pour la Technologie l’Enseignement et la Recherche (RENATER)
Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB)
Typ
Artikel
Journal
Nature Communications
Band
13
ISSN
2041-1723
Publikationsdatum
11.01.2022
Publikationsstatus
Veröffentlicht
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
Physik und Astronomie (insg.), Chemie (insg.), Biochemie, Genetik und Molekularbiologie (insg.)
Elektronische Version(en)
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27884-3 (Zugang: Offen)