Joint transfer of time and frequency signals and multi-point synchronization via fiber network

A system of jointly transferring time signals with a rate of 1 pulse per second （PPS） and frequency signals of 10 MHz via a dense wavelength division multiplex-based （DWDM） fiber is demonstrated in this paper. The noises of the fiber links are suppressed and compensated for by a controlled fiber delay line. A method of calibrating and characterizing time is described. The 1PPS is synchronized by feed-forward calibrating the fiber delays precisely. The system is experimen- tally examined via a 110 km spooled fiber in laboratory. The frequency stabilities of the user end with compensation are 1.8x 10-14 at 1 s and 2.0x 10-17 at 104 s average time. The calculated uncertainty of time synchronization is 13.1 ps, whereas the direct measurement of the uncertainty is 12 ps. Next, the frequency and 1PPS are transferred via a metropoli- tan area optical fiber network from one central site to two remote sites with distances of 14 km and 110 km. The frequency stabilities of 14 km link reach 3.0x 10-14 averaged in 1 s and 1.4x 10-17 in 104 s respectively; and the stabilities of 110 km link are 8.3 x 10-14 and 1.7 x 10-17, respectively. The accuracies of synchronization are estimated to be 12.3 ps for the 14 km link and 13.1 ps for the 110 km link, respectively.