Scientists Boost Microwave Signal Stability a Hundredfold

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have used state-of-the-art atomic clocks, advanced light detectors, and a measurement tool called a frequency comb to boost the stability of microwave signals 100-fold. This marks a giant step toward better electronics to enable more accurate time dissemination, improved navigation, more reliable communications and higher-resolution imaging for radar and astronomy. Improving the microwave signal's consistency over a specific time period helps ensure reliable operation of a device or system.

[...] In their setup, the researchers used the "ticking" of two of NIST's ytterbium lattice clocks to generate light pulses, as well as frequency combs serving as gears to translate the higher-frequency optical pulses accurately into lower-frequency microwave signals. Advanced photodiodes converted light pulses into electrical currents, which in turn generated a 10 gigahertz (GHz, or a billion cycles per second) microwave signal that tracked the clocks' ticking exactly, with an error of just one part in a quintillion (1 followed by 18 zeros).This performance level is on par with that of both optical clocks and 100 times more stable than the best microwave sources.

[...] Optical waves have shorter, faster cycles than microwaves do, so they have different shapes. In converting stable optical waves to microwaves, the researchers tracked the phase-the exact timing of the waves-to ensure they were identical, and not shifted relative to one another. The experiment tracked phase changes with a resolution corresponding to just one millionth of a cycle.

"This is a field where just doubling microwave stability can take years or decades to achieve," group leader Chris Oates said. "A hundred times better is almost unfathomable."

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