Time and reference frequency transfer over 850 nm VCSEL for digital telecommunication network synchronization

Accurate time transfer and synchronization between different network nodes is a key functional requirement in digital communication. Developments in optical fiber-based frequency dissemination techniques have improved optical frequency stability over time to much lower levels. In this work, we experimentally present the reference frequency transfer employing 850 nm vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) over 100.3 m OM3 multimode fiber for synchronization of clocks on networked devices such as servers and racks/pod at different data center network nodes. A low-cost power-efficient multimode VCSEL with central wavelength at 844.26 nm is directly modulated with a 2 GHz reference frequency (RF) clock signal, and transferred over 100.3 m of OM3 multimode fiber. The single side band (SSB) phase noise of -104.62 dBc/Hz and −100.70 dBc/Hz is experimentally measured at back-to-back (B2B) and 100.3 m OM3 multimode fiber transmission respectively at a 1 kHz frequency offset. The jitter stability of 0.14 ps and 0.15 ps is experimentally achieved at B2B and 100.3 m fiber transmission, respectively. This work provides an alternative viable approach for the development of time keeping devices in high-speed short-reach optical communication systems.