Bidirectional microwave and optical signal dissemination.

Abstract

We describe a technique to disseminate highly stable microwave and optical signals from physically separated frequency standards to multiple locations. We demonstrate our technique by transferring the frequency stability performance of a microwave frequency reference to the repetition-rate stability of an optical frequency comb in a different location. The stabilized optical frequency comb becomes available in both locations for measurements of both optical and microwave signals. We show a microwave frequency stability of 4×10(-15) in both locations for integration times beyond 100 s. The control system uses only a standard Ethernet connection.