Planar-waveguide external cavity laser stabilization for an optical link with 10-19 frequency stability

We stabilized the frequency of a compact planar-waveguide external cavity laser (ECL) on a Fabry-Perot cavity (FPC) through a Pound-Drever-Hall scheme. The residual frequency stability of the ECL is 10
^-14
, comparable to the stability achievable with a fiber laser (FL) locked to an FPC through the same scheme. We set up an optical link of 100 km, based on fiber spools, that reaches 10
^-19
relative stability, and we show that its performances using the ECL or FL are comparable. Thus ECLs could serve as an excellent replacement for FLs in optical links where cost-effectiveness and robustness are important considerations.