Fiber Based Radio Frequency Dissemination Scheme to Multiple Users

High-precision time and frequency signals play an important role in many areas such as modern communication, navigation, and baseline interferometry. Optical fiber based time and frequency networking not only has a higher precision which can meet the demand of new generation time and frequency standard but also constructs to the ground based time and frequency network as a complementary choice of satellite based methods. As a consequence, we propose a fiber based radio frequency dissemination scheme to multiple users with a tree-like topology. The noise compensation system acquiring the noise information by measuring multiple reflection signal is put in remote terminals, which allow users to access the frequency signal along the fiber without affecting others. With this scheme, a high precise frequency transfer experiment is demonstrated along a 60 km fiber link to multiple users. The frequency stability of 7.1 × 10−14 @1 s and 6.8 × 10−17@104 s are obtained. Furthermore, the influence induced by adding or cancelling a new terminal is tested when other terminals are operating. The result shows that the stability of radio frequency networking scheme which is robust and flexible can fulfil most atomic clock that is currently used and would bring benefit to establish a national or even continental ultra-stable frequency dissemination network.