A Wide-Band Fiber Optic Frequency Dxstribution System Employing Thermally Controlled Phase Compensation

Dean Johnson, Malcolm Calhoun, Richard Sydnor, George Lutes

Abstract: An active wide-band fiber optic frequency distribution system employing a thermally controlled phase compensator to stabilize phase variations induced by environmental temperature changes is described. The distribution system utilizes bidirectional dual-wavelength transmission to provide optical feedback of induced phase variations of 100 MHz signals propagating along the distribution cable. The phase compensation considered here differs from earlier narrow-band phase compensation designs in that it uses a thermally controlled fiber delay coil rather than a VCO or phase modulation to compensate for induced phase variations. Two advantages of the wide-band system over earlier designs are (1) that it provides phase compensation for all transmitted frequencies, and (2) the compensation is applied after the optical inteterface rather than electronically ahead of it as in earlier schemes. Experimental results on the first prototype shows that the thermal stabilizer reduces phase variations and Allan deviation by a factor of forty over an equivalent uncompensated fiber optic distribution system.
Published in: Proceedings of the 24th Annual Precise Time and Time Interval Systems and Applications Meeting
December 1 - 3, 1992
Ritz-Carlton Hotel
McLean, Virginia
Pages: 365 - 374
Cite this article: Johnson, Dean, Calhoun, Malcolm, Sydnor, Richard, Lutes, George, "A Wide-Band Fiber Optic Frequency Dxstribution System Employing Thermally Controlled Phase Compensation," Proceedings of the 24th Annual Precise Time and Time Interval Systems and Applications Meeting, McLean, Virginia, December 1992, pp. 365-374.
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