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We evaluate mechanical thermal noise in semiconductor lasers, applying a methodology developed for fixed-spacer cavities for laser frequency stabilization. Our simple model determines an underlying fundamental limit for the frequency noise of free-running semiconductor laser, and provides a framework: where the noise may be potentially reduced with improved design.
System and circuit requirements found in airborne Doppler radar - short term frequency stability for Doppler radar
Phase-locking scheme for frequency-stabilized gas laser oscillators
A number of recently developed fiber-optic components that hold the promise of unprecedented stability for passively stabilized frequency distribution links are characterized. These components include a fiber-optic transmitter, an optical isolator, and a new type of fiber-optic cable. A novel laser transmitter exhibits extremely low sensitivity to intensity and polarization changes of reflected light due to cable flexure. This virtually eliminates one of the shortcomings in previous laser transmitters. A high-isolation, low-loss optical isolator has been developed which also virtually eliminates laser sensitivity to changes in intensity and polarization of reflected light. A newly developed fiber has been tested. This fiber has a thermal coefficient of delay of less than 0.5 parts per million per deg C, nearly 20 times lower than the best coaxial hardline cable and 10 times lower than any previous fiber-optic cable. These components are highly suitable for distribution systems with short extent, such as within a Deep Space Communications Complex. Here, these new components are described and the test results presented.
The frequencies of Soviet- and U.S.-built hydrogen masers located at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and at the United States Naval Observatory (USNO) were compared with each other and, via Global Positioning System (GPS) common-view measurements, with three primary frequency-reference scales. The best masers were found to have fractional frequency stabilities as low as 6 times 10(exp -16) for averaging times of approximately 10(exp 4) s. Members of the USNO maser ensemble provided frequency prediction better than 1 times 10(exp 14) for periods up to a few weeks. The frequency residuals of these masers, after removal of frequency drift and rate of change of drift, had stabilities of a few parts in 10(exp -15), with serveral masers achieving residual stabilities well below 1 times 10(exp -15) for intervals from 10(exp 5)s to 2 times 10(exp 6)s. The fractional frequency drifts of the 13 masers studied, relative to the primary reference standards, ranged from -0.2 times 10(exp -15)/day to +9.6 times 10(exp -15)/day.
Mechanically-stable integral storage-bulb/microwave cavity made out of single piece of fused quartz improves frequency stability. Single-piece construction eliminates joints, making cavity dimensionally and hence frequency-stable. Fused quartz is used because of its low thermal expansion coefficient.
This article describes an improvement in the architecture of the physics package used in the Linear Ion Trap (LIT)-based frequency standard recently developed at JPL. This new design is based on the observation that ions can be moved along the axis of an LIT by applied dc voltages. The state selection and interrogation region can be separated from the more critical microwave resonance region where the multiplied local oscillator signal is compared with the stable atomic transition. This separation relaxes many of the design constraints of the present units. Improvements include increased frequency stability and a substantial reduction in size, mass, and cost of the final frequency standard.
In this paper we review the development of Hg(+) microwave frequency standards for use in high reliability and continuous operation applications. In recent work we have demonstrated short-term frequency stability of 3 x 10(exp -14)/nu(sub tau) when a cryogenic oscillator of stability 2-3 x 10(exp 15) was used a the local oscillator. The trapped ion frequency standard employs a Hg-202 discharge lamp to optically pump the trapped Hg(+)-199 clock ions and a helium buffer gas to cool the ions to near room temperature. We describe a small Hg(+) ion trap based frequency standard with an extended linear ion trap (LITE) architecture which separates the optical state selection region from the clock resonance region. This separation allows the use of novel trap configurations in the resonance region since no optical pumping is carried out there. A method for measuring the size of an ion cloud inside a linear trap with a 12-rod trap is currently being investigated. At approx. 10(exp -12), the 2nd order Doppler shift for trapped mercury ion frequency standards is one of the largest frequency offsets and its measurement to the 1% level would represent an advance in insuring the very long-term stability of these standards to the 10(exp -14) or better level. Finally, we describe atomic clock comparison experiments that can probe for a time variation of the fine structure constant, alpha = e(exp 2)/2(pi)hc, at the level of 10(exp -20)/year as predicted in some Grand Unified String Theories.
Various papers on coherent lightwave communications are presented. Individual topics addressed include: overview of coherent light wave communications, frequency stabilization techniques for coherent lightwave systems, characterization of laser diode intensity noise at microwave frequencies with high sensitivity, FP and DFB semiconductor lasers with arbitrary external optical feedback, birefringence-controlled phase-shifter, polarization diversity and scrambling techniques for coherent systems, polarization control scheme for coherent optical systems, simulation of IF filtering effects on the performance of coherent optical receivers. Also discussed are: performance of optical DPSK receivers in the presence of optical channel noise, optical heterodyne communications with polarization modulation, coherent fiber optical subcarrier multiplexed system, engineered rack-mounted coherent transmission system, technology aspects of a coherent optical MAN, broadband exchange by coherent multicarrier switching, generalized temporal CDMA for optical communications. Overviews are given of recent progress at individual companies.
Measuring the performance of ultra stable frequency standards such as the Superconducting Cavity Maser Oscillator (SCMO) necessitates improvement of some test instrumentation. The frequency stability test equipment used at JPL includes a 1 Hz Offset Generator to generate a beat frequency between a pair of 100 MHz signals that are being compared. The noise floor of the measurement system using the current Offset Generator is adequate to characterize stability of hydrogen masers, but it is not adequate for the SCMO. A new Offset Generator with improved stability was designed and tested at JPL. With this Offset Generator and a new Zero Crossing Detector, recently developed at JPL, the measurement flow was reduced by a factor of 5.5 at 1 second tau, 3.0 at 1000 seconds, and 9.4 at 10,000 seconds, compared against the previous design. In addition to the new circuit designs of the Offset Generator and Zero Crossing Detector, tighter control of the measurement equipment environment was required to achieve this improvement. The design of this new Offset Generator are described, along with details of the environment control methods used.
The Modulation Sideband Technology for Absolute Range (MSTAR) architecture is the basis of design of a proposed laser-based heterodyne interferometer that could measure a range (distance) as great as 100 km with a precision and resolution of the order of 1 nm. Simple optical interferometers can measure changes in range with nanometer resolution, but cannot measure range itself because interference is subject to the well-known integer-multiple-of-2 -radians phase ambiguity, which amounts to a range ambiguity of the order of 1 m at typical laser wavelengths. Existing rangefinders have a resolution of the order of 10 m and are therefore unable to resolve the ambiguity. The proposed MSTAR architecture bridges the gap, enabling nanometer resolution with an ambiguity range that can be extended to arbitrarily large distances. The MSTAR architecture combines the principle of the heterodyne interferometer with the principle of extending the ambiguity range of an interferometer by using light of two wavelengths. The use of two wavelengths for this purpose is well established in optical metrology, radar, and sonar. However, unlike in traditional two-color laser interferometry, light of two wavelengths would not be generated by two lasers. Instead, multiple wavelengths would be generated as sidebands of phase modulation of the light from a single frequency- stabilized laser. The phase modulation would be effected by applying sinusoidal signals of suitable frequencies (typically tens of gigahertz) to high-speed electro-optical phase modulators. Intensity modulation can also be used
Highly reliable timing system, such as used on board satellites, may incorporate a hot standby atomic clock besides the active one. RF couplings between them may affect the performance of the active clock. The effect of such couplings between two rubidium atomic clocks was investigated, and it was found that they will add an oscillatory term to the Allan Variance of the active clock, degrading its frequency stability, and that under certain circumstances they may also shift the active clock's operating frequency. These two effects are discussed in detail, and the level of isolation required to render them negligible is established.
Recent measurements on the superconducting cavity maser (SCM) oscillator show frequency stability of parts in 10 exp 15 for times from 1 to 1000 sec. Phase noise of approximately -80 dB/f-cubed was also measured. This short- and mid-term performance is believed to be better than that of any known microwave oscillator. In particular, stability at a measuring time of 1 sec is 10 times better than that of a hydrogen maser, and phase noise at 8 GHz is more than 20 dB below that of the best multiplied quartz crystal oscillators. Substantial technical improvements have been made to eliminate frequency instability due to operational parameters. They are temperature, pump frequency, pump power, pump frequency polarization, temperature gradient, coupling strength, and output VSWR. Either the parameter was stabilized or the coefficient which couples the parameter to the operating frequency was minimized. A frequency pulling coil has been implemented and tested to enable the SCM to be slaved to a hydrogen maser with a time constant of approximately 50 sec. This combination would allow the excellent long term performance of the hydrogen maser to be improved by the newly available short term performance of the SCM.
Sapphire dielectric ring resonator operating in "whispering-gallery" mode helps to stabilize frequency and phase of microwave oscillator. Reduces phase noise appreciably at room temperature and promises unprecedented stability of phase at cryogenic temperatures.
The potential applications of superconductivity in space are examined. It is shown that superconducting oscillators have achieved better frequency stability that any other device for averaging times of 10 s to 1000 s. Such a high stability results from the use of solid niobium resonators having Q factors greater that 10 to the 10th. Oscillators of this type have direct applications as clocks and spectrally pure sources. In addition, they may also be used for accurate measurements of many physical quantities and to perform a variety of experiments on fundamental constants, relativity, and gravity waves.
A room temperature sapphire acoustics resonator incorporated into an oscillator represents a possible opportunity to improve on quartz ultrastable oscillator (USO) performance, which has been a staple for NASA missions since the inception of spaceflight. Where quartz technology is very mature and shows a performance improvement of perhaps 1 dB/decade, these sapphire acoustic resonators when integrated with matured quartz electronics could achieve a frequency stability improvement of 10 dB or more. As quartz oscillators are an essential element of nearly all types of frequency standards and reference systems, the success of MSAR would advance the development of frequency standards and systems for both groundbased and flight-based projects. Current quartz oscillator technology is limited by quartz mechanical Q. With a possible improvement of more than x 10 Q with sapphire acoustic modes, the stability limit of current quartz oscillators may be improved tenfold, to 10(exp -14) at 1 second. The electromagnetic modes of sapphire that were previously developed at JPL require cryogenic temperatures to achieve the high Q levels needed to achieve this stability level. However sapphire fs acoustic modes, which have not been used before in a high-stability oscillator, indicate the required Q values (as high as Q = 10(exp 8)) may be achieved at room temperature in the kHz range. Even though sapphire is not piezoelectric, such a high Q should allow electrostatic excitation of the acoustic modes with a combination of DC and AC voltages across a small sapphire disk (approximately equal to l mm thick). The first evaluations under this task will test predictions of an estimated input impedance of 10 kilohms at Q = 10(exp 8), and explore the Q values that can be realized in a smaller resonator, which has not been previously tested for acoustic modes. This initial Q measurement and excitation demonstration can be viewed similar to a transducer converting electrical energy to mechanical energy and back. Such an electrostatic tweeter type excitation of a mechanical resonator will be tested at 5 MHz. Finite element calculation will be applied to resonator design for the desired resonator frequency and optimum configuration. The experiment consists of the sapphire resonator sandwiched between parallel electrodes. A DC+AC voltage can be applied to generate a force to act on a sapphire resonator. With the frequency of the AC voltage tuned to the sapphire resonator frequency, a resonant condition occurs and the sapphire Q can be measured with a high-frequency impedance analyzer. To achieve high Q values, many experimental factors such as vacuum seal, gas damping effects, charge buildup on the sapphire surface, heat dissipation, sapphire anchoring, and the sapphire mounting configuration will need attention. The effects of these parameters will be calculated and folded into the resonator design. It is envisioned that the initial test configuration would allow for movable electrodes to check gap spacing dependency and verify the input impedance prediction. Quartz oscillators are key components in nearly all ground- and space-based communication, tracking, and radio science applications. They play a key role as local oscillators for atomic frequency standards and serve as flywheel oscillators or to improve phase noise in high performance frequency and timing distribution systems. With ultra-stable performance from one to three seconds, an Earth-orbit or moon-based MSAR can enhance available performance options for spacecraft due to elimination of atmospheric path degradation.
An extensive investigation of the effects of pitch-roll coupling on helicopter handling qualities was performed by the U.S. Army and Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fur Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), using a NASA ground-based and a DLR in-flight simulator. Over 90 different coupling configurations were evaluated using a high gain roll-axis tracking task. The results show that although the current ADS-33C coupling criterion discriminates against those types of coupling typical of conventionally controlled helicopters, it is not always suited for the prediction of handling qualities of helicopters with modern control systems. Based on the observation that high frequency inputs during tracking are used to alleviate coupling, a frequency domain pitch-roll coupling criterion that uses the average coupling ratio between the bandwidth and neutral stability frequency is formulated. This criterion provides a more comprehensive coverage with respect to the different types of coupling, shows excellent consistency, and has the additional benefit that compliance testing data are obtained from the bandwidth/phase delay tests, so that no additional flight testing is needed.
An investigation of the effects of pitch-roll coupling on helicopter handling qualities was performed by the US Army and DLR, using a NASA ground-based and a DLR inflight simulator. Over 90 different coupling configurations were evaluated using a roll-axis tracking task. The results show that although the current ADS-33C coupling criterion discriminates against those types of coupling typical of conventionally controlled helicopters, it not always suited for the prediction of handling qualities of helicopters with modern control systems. Based on the observation that high frequency inputs during tracking are used to alleviate coupling, a frequency domain pitch-roll coupling criterion that uses the average coupling ratio between the bandwidth and neutral stability frequency is formulated. This criterion provides a more comprehensive coverage with respect to the different types of coupling and shows excellent consistency.