Skip to main content

NOTICE: Due to a lapse in annual appropriations, most of this website is not being updated. Learn more.

Form submissions will still be accepted but will not receive responses at this time. Sections of this site for programs using non-appropriated funds (such as NVLAP) or those that are excepted from the shutdown (such as CHIPS and NVD) will continue to be updated.

U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Attosecond timing in optical-to-electrical conversion

Published

Author(s)

Frederick N. Baynes, Franklyn J. Quinlan, Tara M. Fortier, Qiugui Zhou, Andreas Beling, Joe C. Campbell, Scott A. Diddams

Abstract

The most frequency-stable sources of electromagnetic radiation are produced optically, and optical frequency combs provide the means for high fidelity frequency transfer across hundreds of terahertz and into the microwave domain. A critical step in the photonic-based synthesis of microwave signals is the optical-to-electrical conversion process. Here we report the residual phase, timing, and frequency stability of microwaves generated by short optical pulse illumination of high-power photodiodes. For a generated 10 GHz carrier, measurements covered over 7 decades of offset frequencies, from 1 mHz to greater than 10 kHz. The phase noise was found to largely follow a flicker (1/f) dependence over the entire range, reaching -135 dBc/Hz (4 as/√Hz) at 1 Hz, and -170 dBc/Hz (0.07 as/√Hz) at 10 kHz offset. The corresponding Allan deviation was measured at 1.4 x 10-17 at 1 second and 5.5 x 10-20 at 1000 seconds. The implications for the transfer of state-of-the art optical frequency references to the microwave domain are discussed.
Citation
Optica
Volume
2
Issue
2

Keywords

Microwave Generation, Optical Frequency Comb, Phase Noise, Photo-detection

Citation

Baynes, F. , Quinlan, F. , Fortier, T. , Zhou, Q. , Beling, A. , Campbell, J. and Diddams, S. (2015), Attosecond timing in optical-to-electrical conversion, Optica, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=917410 (Accessed October 4, 2025)

Issues

If you have any questions about this publication or are having problems accessing it, please contact [email protected].

Created February 10, 2015, Updated February 19, 2017
Was this page helpful?