Measurement of optical to electrical and electrical to optical delays with ps-level uncertainty

H. Z. Peek*, T. J. Pinkert, P. P.M. Jansweijer, J. C.J. Koelemeij

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

We present a new measurement principle to determine the absolute time delay of a waveform from an optical reference plane to an electrical reference plane and vice versa. We demonstrate a method based on this principle with 2 ps uncertainty. This method can be used to perform accurate time delay determinations of optical transceivers used in fiber-optic time-dissemination equipment. As a result the time scales in optical and electrical domain can be related to each other with the same uncertainty. We expect this method will be a new breakthrough in high-accuracy time transfer and absolute calibration of time-transfer equipment.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)14650-14660
Number of pages11
JournalOptics Express
Volume26
Issue number11
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 28 May 2018

Funding

European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 653477, Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research NWO and the Technology Foundation STW. The authors thank Guido Visser (Nikhef) for technical support and discussions about the microwave electronics and Jan-Willem Schmelling (Nikhef) for fiber optic support. Tjeerd Pinkert lovingly thanks Esther Pinkert-Wijnbeek for their private time taken to finish this work. This publication is part of the ASTERICS project that has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 653477. J.C.J. Koelemeij acknowledges support from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research NWO and the Technology Foundation STW. The authors thank Guido Visser (Nikhef) for technical support and discussions about the microwave electronics and Jan-Willem Schmelling (Nikhef) for fiber optic support. Tjeerd Pinkert lovingly thanks Esther Pinkert-Wijnbeek for their private time taken to finish this work. This publication is part of the ASTERICS project that has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 653477. J.C.J. Koelemeij acknowledges support from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research NWO and the Technology Foundation STW. European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 653477, Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research NWO and the Technology Foundation STW.

FundersFunder number
Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research NWO
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme653477
European Geosciences Union
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
Stichting voor de Technische Wetenschappen

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