Broadly tunable, low timing jitter, high repetition rate optoelectronic comb generator

Abstract

The low timing jitter properties of a tunable single-pass optoelectronic frequency comb generator is investigated. The scheme is flexible in that both the repetition rate and centre frequency can be continuously tuned. When operated with 10 GHz comb spacing, the integrated residual pulse-to-pulse timing jitter is 11.35 fs (1 Hz-10 MHz) with no feedback stabilisation. The corresponding phase noise at 1 Hz offset from the photodetected 10 GHz carrier is -100 dBc/Hz.