Noise properties of microwave signals synthesized with femtosecond lasers

The excess noise associated with the process of coherent optical-to-microwave frequency division was measured. This was accomplished by referencing two mode-locked Ti: sapphire lasers to the same stable CW laser and extracting microwave signals at the harmonics of pulse repetition rate. The spectral density of the excess phase noise was found to be close to -140dBc/Hz at 100Hz offset from a 10 GHz carrier

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