Phase Variation Measurement in Mach–Zehnder Interferometric Switch

Fan, Sichen; Ruan, Jun; Liu, Dandan; Wang, Xinliang; Yang, Fan; Guan, Yong; Zhang, Hui; Shi, Junru; Bai, Yang; Zhang, Shougang

doi:10.2478/msr-2021-0024

Abstract

Phase variations of the interrogation field lead to frequency shifts in Ramsey-type atomic clocks. This paper reports the development of a 300 MHz Mach–Zehnder (MZ) switch that effectively suppresses phase-transient effects. Similar to MZ interferometers, this radio-frequency (RF) MZ switch comprises two arms that are power- and phase-matched with each other. By inserting a PIN diode RF switch in one arm, the other arm remains undisturbed, freeing it of the phase transient. Trigger phase fluctuation measurements are implemented by using a lock-in amplifier to extract the in-phase and quadrature (I/Q) demodulation data. The results show that the extinction ratio of the RF MZ switch phase fluctuations is <5 μrad, which is significantly lower than that of a PIN (50 μrad). When applied to a cesium fountain clock, the RF MZ switch produces a frequency shift better than 1.73 × 10⁻¹⁶.

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Phase Variation Measurement in Mach–Zehnder Interferometric Switch

Abstract

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