Radiofrequency synthesiser with an intrinsic instability of 5 × 10−15 at the averaging time of 1 s based on a femtosecond erbium-doped fibre laser

Abstract

Abstract A radio-optical synthesiser intended for operation in a radio-frequency master oscillator with an optical He – Ne/CH4 frequency standard (λ = 3.39 μm) is developed on the basis of a femtosecond erbium-doped fibre laser. The synthesiser generates equidistant harmonics in the frequency range of 1 – 10 GHz with stability determined by the optical frequency standard. A stable supercontinuum spectrum is formed in the range around 1.06 μm, which provides stable 24-hour operation of the synthesiser and is important for practical applications in off-laboratory conditions. A direct comparison of the output frequencies of two synthesisers shows that the up-grade of the fibre laser and detection system of femtosecond pulses results in the synthesiser intrinsic instability of 5 × 10−15 at the averaging time of 1 s. Such a value is by an order of magnitude less than that obtained in our earlier works.