First international comparison of fountain primary frequency standards via a long distance optical fiber link

authored by: J. Guéna, S. Weyers, M. Abgrall, C. Grebing, V. Gerginov, P. Rosenbusch, S. Bize, B. Lipphardt, H. Denker, N. Quintin, S. M.F. Raupach, D. Nicolodi, F. Stefani, N. Chiodo, S. Koke, A. Kuhl, F. Wiotte, F. Meynadier, E. Camisard, C. Chardonnet, Y. Le Coq, M. Lours, G. Santarelli, A. Amy-Klein, R. Le Targat, O. Lopez, P. E. Pottie, G. Grosche
Abstract: We report on the first comparison of distant caesium fountain primary frequency standards (PFSs) via an optical fiber link. The 1415 km long optical link connects two PFSs at LNESYRTE (Laboratoire National de métrologie et d'Essais-SYstème de Références Temps- Espace) in Paris (France) with two at PTB (Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt) in Braunschweig (Germany). For a long time, these PFSs have been major contributors to accuracy of the International Atomic Time (TAI), with stated accuracies of around 3×10^-16. They have also been the references for a number of absolute measurements of clock transition frequencies in various optical frequency standards in view of a future redefinition of the second. The phase coherent optical frequency transfer via a stabilized telecom fiber link enables far better resolution than any other means of frequency transfer based on satellite links. The agreement for each pair of distant fountains compared is well within the combined uncertainty of a few 10^-16 for all the comparisons, which fully supports the stated PFSs' uncertainties. The comparison also includes a rubidium fountain frequency standard participating in the steering of TAI and enables a new absolute determination of the 87Rb ground state hyperfine transition frequency with an uncertainty of 3.1×10^-16.
Organisation(s): Institute of Geodesy
External Organisation(s): Observatoire de Paris (OBSPARIS)
National Metrology Institute of Germany (PTB)
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
Universite Paris 13
Universite de Bordeaux
Réseau National de télécommunications pour la Technologie l’Enseignement et la Recherche (RENATER)
Type: Article
Journal: METROLOGIA
Volume: 54
Pages: 348-354
No. of pages: 7
ISSN: 0026-1394
Publication date: 06.2017
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Engineering(all)
Electronic version(s): https://arxiv.org/pdf/1703.02892.pdf (Access: Open)
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01487651/file/Fountain%20com%20Version%20r%C3%A9vis%C3%A9e.pdf (Access: Open)
https://doi.org/10.1088/1681-7575/aa65fe (Access: Open)
: Details in the research portal "Research@Leibniz University"

BibTeX

@article{e96a18991ebb4ac296abdc44213c4f30,
title = "First international comparison of fountain primary frequency standards via a long distance optical fiber link",
abstract = "We report on the first comparison of distant caesium fountain primary frequency standards (PFSs) via an optical fiber link. The 1415 km long optical link connects two PFSs at LNESYRTE (Laboratoire National de m{\'e}trologie et d'Essais-SYst{\`e}me de R{\'e}f{\'e}rences Temps- Espace) in Paris (France) with two at PTB (Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt) in Braunschweig (Germany). For a long time, these PFSs have been major contributors to accuracy of the International Atomic Time (TAI), with stated accuracies of around 3×10-16. They have also been the references for a number of absolute measurements of clock transition frequencies in various optical frequency standards in view of a future redefinition of the second. The phase coherent optical frequency transfer via a stabilized telecom fiber link enables far better resolution than any other means of frequency transfer based on satellite links. The agreement for each pair of distant fountains compared is well within the combined uncertainty of a few 10-16 for all the comparisons, which fully supports the stated PFSs' uncertainties. The comparison also includes a rubidium fountain frequency standard participating in the steering of TAI and enables a new absolute determination of the 87Rb ground state hyperfine transition frequency with an uncertainty of 3.1×10-16.",
keywords = "Atomic fountain clocks, International fountain clock comparison, Optical fiber frequency transfer, international fountain clock comparison, atomic fountain clocks, optical fiber frequency transfer",
author = "J. Gu{\'e}na and S. Weyers and M. Abgrall and C. Grebing and V. Gerginov and P. Rosenbusch and S. Bize and B. Lipphardt and H. Denker and N. Quintin and Raupach, {S. M.F.} and D. Nicolodi and F. Stefani and N. Chiodo and S. Koke and A. Kuhl and F. Wiotte and F. Meynadier and E. Camisard and C. Chardonnet and {Le Coq}, Y. and M. Lours and G. Santarelli and A. Amy-Klein and {Le Targat}, R. and O. Lopez and Pottie, {P. E.} and G. Grosche",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2017 BIPM & IOP Publishing Ltd. Copyright: Copyright 2017 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.",
year = "2017",
month = jun,
doi = "10.1088/1681-7575/aa65fe",
language = "English",
volume = "54",
pages = "348--354",
journal = "METROLOGIA",
issn = "0026-1394",
publisher = "IOP Publishing Ltd.",
number = "3",
}