Measurement of absolute timing jitter of SESAM mode-locked lasers with yoctosecond sensitivity
Alexis Casanova, Antoine Courjaud, Benoît Trophème, G. Santarelli
Abstract
Absolute timing jitter from a mode-locked laser is characterized with a record low noise floor of <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mn>122</mml:mn> <mml:mspace width="thickmathspace"/> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">y</mml:mi> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">s</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mo>/</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:msqrt> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">H</mml:mi> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">z</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msqrt> </mml:math> ( <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mn>1.5</mml:mn> <mml:mo>×</mml:mo> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:msup> <mml:mn>10</mml:mn> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>14</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:mrow> <mml:mspace width="thickmathspace"/> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">s</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mo>/</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">H</mml:mi> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">z</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> ). We develop a novel measurement technique using cross-spectrum methods in combination with a dual balanced optical cross-correlator system, with three independent low-noise mode-locked lasers.