Universal femtosecond fiber-optic clockwork

We report on development of a universal optical clockwork based on a fiber-optic femtosecond frequency comb generator with an advanced stabilization system. The comb generator employs a highly-stable mode-locked erbium-fiber laser and an original hybrid highly-nonlinear fiber. The implemented concept of frequency stabilization provides universality of the clockwork and allows frequency stability transfer from different types of optical standards to the generated radio and optical frequencies. The clockwork can ensure ultra-low relative instability (less than 10-17) of generated frequencies provided that a proper optical frequency standard is applied. The clockwork is approved for operation with molecular (I2), and single-ion (Yb+) optical standards.