Sub-picosecond timing fluctuation suppression in laser-based atmospheric transfer of microwave signal using electronic phase compensation

We demonstrated a timing fluctuation suppression in outdoor laser-based atmospheric radio-frequency transfer over a 110 m one-way free-space link using an electronic phase compensation technique. Timing fluctuations and Allan Deviation are both measured to characterize the instability of transferred frequency incurred during the transfer process. With transferring a 1 GHz microwave signal over a timing fluctuation suppressed transmission link, the total root-mean-square (rms) timing fluctuation was measured to be 920 femtoseconds In 5000 s, with fractional frequency instability on the order of 1 x 10(-12) at 1 s, and order of 2 x 10(-16) at 1000 s. This atmospheric frequency transfer scheme with the timing fluctuation suppression technique can be used to fast build an atomic clock-based frequency free-space transmission link since its stability is superior to a commercial Cs and Rb clock. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.