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arXiv · 1802.07567

Measurement of optical to electrical and electrical to optical delays with ps-level uncertainty

H. Z. Peek·T. J. Pinkert·P. P. M. Jansweijer·J. C. J. Koelemeij
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Abstract

We present a new measurement principle to determine the absolute time delay of a waveform from an optical reference plane to an electrical reference plane and vice versa. We demonstrate a method based on this principle with 2 ps uncertainty. This method can be used to perform accurate time delay determinations of optical transceivers used in fibre-optic time-dissemination equipment. As a result the time scales in optical and electrical domain can be related to each other with the same uncertainty. We expect this method to break new grounds in high-accuracy time transfer and absolute calibration of time-transfer equipment.

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H. Z. Peek, T. J. Pinkert, P. P. M. Jansweijer, J. C. J. Koelemeij. 2018-02-21. Measurement of optical to electrical and electrical to optical delays with ps-level uncertainty. https://doi.org/10.1364/oe.26.014650

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