Ultra-stable microwave generation with a diode-pumped solid-state laser in the 1.5-μm range

Dolgovskiy, Vladimir ; Schilt, Stéphane ; Bucalovic, Nikola ; Di Domenico, Gianni ; Grop, Serge ; Dubois, Benoît ; Giordano, Vincent ; Südmeyer, Thomas

In: Applied Physics B, 2014, vol. 116, no. 3, p. 593-601

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    Summary
    We demonstrate the first ultra-stable microwave generation based on a 1.5-μm diode-pumped solid-state laser (DPSSL) frequency comb. Our system relies on optical-to-microwave frequency division from a planar-waveguide external cavity laser referenced to an ultra-stable Fabry-Perot cavity. The evaluation of the microwave signal at ~10GHz uses the transportable ultra-low-instability signal sourceULISS®, which employs a cryo-cooled sapphire oscillator. With the DPSSL comb, we measured −125dBc/Hz phase noise at 1kHz offset frequency, likely limited by the photo-detection shot-noise or by the noise floor of the reference cryo-cooled sapphire oscillator. For comparison, we also generated low-noise microwave using a commercial Er:fiber comb stabilized in similar conditions and observed >20dB lower phase noise in the microwave generated from the DPSSL comb. Our results confirm the high potential of the DPSSL technology for low-noise comb applications.