Cascaded Microwave Frequency Transfer over 300-km Fiber Link with Instability at the 10−18 Level

Abstract

Comparing and synchronizing atomic clocks between distant laboratories with ultra-stable frequency transfer are essential procedures in many fields of fundamental and applied science. Existing conventional methods for frequency transfer based on satellite links, however, are insufficient for the requirements of many applications. In order to achieve high-precision microwave frequency transfer over a thousand kilometers of fiber and to construct a fiber-based microwave transfer network, we propose a cascaded system for microwave frequency transfer consisting of three 100-km single-span spooled fiber links using an improved electronic phase compensation scheme. The transfer instability measured for the microwave signal reaches 1.1 × 10−14 at 1 s and 6.8 × 10−18 at 105 s, which agrees with the root-sum-square of each span contribution. It is feasible to extend the length of the fiber-based microwave frequency transfer up to 1200 km using 4 stages of our cascaded system, which is still sufficient to transfer modern cold atom microwave frequency standards. Moreover, the transfer instability of 9.0 × 10−15 at 1 s and 9.0 × 10−18 at 105 s for a 100-MHz signal is achieved. The residual phase noise power spectral density of the 300-km cascaded link measured at 100-MHz is also obtained. The rejection frequency bandwidth of the cascaded link is limited by the propagation delay of one single-span link.