Phase Noise of Optical Pulse Trains Generated by Talbot Effect in Frequency Shifting Loops

High repetition rate optical pulse trains are essential for a wide range of applications, including photonic-assisted sampling. Among the different solutions proposed so far, Talbot lasers, based on the generation of an optical frequency comb in a frequency shifting loop, are a simple yet efficient source of short transform-limited pulses. By controlling the comb spectral phase, the repetition rate is reconfigurable. It can be set to a (possibly large) multiple of the comb spacing and reach the GHz range, while only requiring a low bandwidth synthesizer (typ. 100 MHz). The noise characteristics of this pulse trains is a key factor for its application. Therefore, we investigate the phase noise properties of Talbot lasers. In particular, we prove theoretically and demonstrate experimentally that the phase noise at high offset frequency from the carrier, does not depend on the multiplication factor q. We also demonstrate that the phase noise at low offset frequencies, which increases as 20 logq, can be strongly reduced by a simple locking technique. Finally, we show that in addition to their reconfigurability, Talbot lasers can provide timing jitters at 8.2 GHz as low as 350 fs (integrated from 10
⁵
Hz to the Nyquist frequency), making them suitable candidates for time metrology applications.