Optical frequency link between Torino and Firenze for remote comparison between Yb and Sr optical clocks

The Italian Institute of Metrology (INRIM), the European Laboratory for NonLinear Spectroscopy (LENS), the Physics and Astronomy Department of the University of Firenze (UNIFI) and the Politecnico of Torino started a project to establish a 650 km optical fiber link that will enable remote frequency comparisons between high accuracy microwave and optical clocks of INRIM and UNIFI-LENS and an absolute measurement of the UNIFI-LENS Sr clock versus INRIM Cesium fountains. We report the overall architecture of the project, the present status of the experiment and the preliminary tests performed on the equipments.