Chinese Optics Letters, Volume. 24, Issue 1, (2026)

10⁻20-Level Long-Term Relative Frequency Instability in Multi-Branch Optical Frequency Comb Enabled by Fiber Noise Cancellation [Early Posting]

rao bingjie, yang xiguang, li mingkun, chen xin, yu ning, hu zhenyuan, Dong Ruifang, Zhang Shougang, zhang pan
Author Affiliations
  • China
  • 国家授时中心
  • show less

    We demonstrated an all-polarization-maintaining (PM), multi-branch optical frequency comb based on an all-fiber configuration. To achieve fiber noise cancellation, we aligned the beat note of the out-of-loop branch with that of the in-loop branch by phase-locking both branches to a common 1550 nm ultra-stable laser. To further assess the out-of-loop frequency instability of the constructed fiber comb, we heterodyned it with another quasi-identical fiber comb. Thanks to effective fiber noise cancellation and a small difference in out-of-loop fiber lengths, the frequency instability of a single comb reached an exceptional level of 2.26×10−17 at 1 s and 8.4×10−20 at 4000 s.

    Paper Information

    Manuscript Accepted: Jul. 11, 2025

    Posted: Aug. 12, 2025

    DOI: 10.3788/COL202624.011401