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arXiv · 2401.01899

Free space optical link to a tethered balloon for frequency transfer

Nicolas Maron·Sébastien Fernandez·François-Xavier Esnault·Thomas Lévèque·Tepuaonini Muzeau·Peter Wolf
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Abstract

We present the results of an optical link to a corner cube on board a tethered balloon at 300 m altitude including a Tip/Tilt compensation for the balloon tracking. Our experiment measures the carrier phase of a 1542 nm laser, which is the useful signal for frequency comparison of distant clocks. An active phase noise compensation of the carrier is implemented, demonstrating a fractional frequency stability of 8x10-19 after 16 s averaging, which slightly (factor ~3) improves on best previous links via an airborne platform. This state-of-the-art result is obtained with a transportable set-up that enables a fast field deployment.

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Nicolas Maron, Sébastien Fernandez, François-Xavier Esnault, Thomas Lévèque, Tepuaonini Muzeau, Peter Wolf. 2023-11-17. Free space optical link to a tethered balloon for frequency transfer. https://doi.org/10.1364/oe.511244

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