Optical Waveguide Cross-Correlator for Attosecond Timing Synchronization

This Phase I SBIR/STTR will establish the feasibility of developing a precision balanced optical cross-correlator using engineered nonlinear optical waveguides. The proposed device will be important for future advances at large scale accelerator facilities by providing a means to achieve long-term sub- femtosecond timing and synchronization of all of a facilitys optical and RF sub-systems over fiber optic links. The innovative balanced optical cross-correlation technique takes advantage of a wide bandwidth second harmonic generation (SHG) interaction that is possible in periodically-poled KTP (PPKTP) to measure the arrival time difference between two optical pulses while cancelling errors due to intensity fluctuations and photodetector phase noise. A waveguide-based cross-correlator offers substantial improvements compared to bulk PPKTP through orders of magnitude better SHG efficiency and compact, robust, noise-free, fiber-coupled packaging. In this Phase I effort, PPKTP waveguides will be designed, fabricated, and tested to determine if they can be used as the basis for fiber-link timing synchronization measured in attoseconds to support next-generation advances in Basic Energy Sciences user facilities. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: A robust, fiber-based device will improve and simplify precision timing at linear accelerators, improving performance and reducing maintenance and installation costs. Future advances in basic science research, radar and telecommunications, quantum communication, and quantum computation will also depend upon precision timing at attosecond time scales.