Ultralow-jitter, 1550-nm mode-locked semiconductor laser synchronized to a visible optical frequency standard

Using high-bandwidth feedback, we have synchronized the pulse train from a mode-locked semiconductor laser to an external optical atomic clock signal and achieved what is to our knowledge the lowest timing jitter to date (22 fs, integrated from 1 Hz to 100 MHz) for such devices. The performance is limited by the intrinsic noise of the phase detector used for timing-jitter measurement. We. expect such a highly stable device to play an important role in fiber-network-based precise time/frequency distribution. (C) 2003 Optical Society of America.