We report the demonstration of an all-optical self-sustained cell-based microwave feedback oscillator. In this scheme, a microwave resonance, optically induced in a buffer-gas filled vapor cell resonator through coherent population trapping (CPT), is detected by a fast photodiode, amplified, and used to drive back, through a frequency divider, a Mach–Zehnder electro-optic modulator in a sustaining loop configuration. The total gain and phase of the system was measured in an open-loop configuration with a network analyzer. In good agreement with values predicted by the Leeson effect, the CPT feedback oscillator demonstrates an absolute phase noise of −24 dB rad2/Hz at 1 Hz offset frequency, compatible with a fractional frequency stability of 8 × 10−12 at 1 s, and a phase noise floor of −112 dB rad2/Hz, limited by the low microwave power available at the photodiode output. The amplitude noise of the oscillator shows a comparable noise floor and, for offset frequencies lower than 200 Hz, a 1/f dependence, due to the presence of the frequency divider in the loop.
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24 January 2022
Research Article|
January 25 2022
All-optical microwave feedback oscillator with atomic cell resonator
R. Boudot
;
R. Boudot
a)
1
FEMTO-ST, CNRS, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté
, Besançon, France
a)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: rodolphe.boudot@femto-st.fr
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M. Abdel Hafiz
;
M. Abdel Hafiz
1
FEMTO-ST, CNRS, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté
, Besançon, France
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M. Petersen;
M. Petersen
1
FEMTO-ST, CNRS, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté
, Besançon, France
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C. E. Calosso
;
C. E. Calosso
2
INRIM
, Strada delle Cacce 91, Torino, Italy
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E. Rubiola
E. Rubiola
1
FEMTO-ST, CNRS, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté
, Besançon, France
2
INRIM
, Strada delle Cacce 91, Torino, Italy
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a)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: rodolphe.boudot@femto-st.fr
Appl. Phys. Lett. 120, 044101 (2022)
Article history
Received:
September 24 2021
Accepted:
January 12 2022
Citation
R. Boudot, M. Abdel Hafiz, M. Petersen, C. E. Calosso, E. Rubiola; All-optical microwave feedback oscillator with atomic cell resonator. Appl. Phys. Lett. 24 January 2022; 120 (4): 044101. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0072799
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