A plug-and-play solution for characterizing two-way optical frequency transfer over free-space
Abstract
Optical clock networks connected by phase-coherent links offer significant potential for advancing fundamental research and diverse scientific applications. Free-space optical frequency transfer extends fiber-based connectivity to remote areas and holds the potential for global coverage via satellite links. Here we present a compact and robust portable, rack-integrated two-way free-space link characterization system. Equipped with plug-and-play capabilities, the system enables straightforward interfacing with various optical systems and facilitates quick deployment for field experiments. In this work, we achieve a fractional frequency instability of for an averaging time of 10 s over a 3.4 km horizontal fully folded intra-city free-space link. Moreover, the system maintains an uptime of over 15 hours, illustrating its reliability and effectiveness for high-precision optical frequency comparisons over free-space.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2502.02161,
title = {A plug-and-play solution for characterizing two-way optical frequency transfer over free-space},
author = {Jingxian Ji and Shambo Mukherjee and Alexander Kuhl and Sebastian Koke and Markus Leipe and Markus Rothe and Fabian Steinlechner and Jochen Kronjäger},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2502.02161},
year = {2025}
}