Application of picosecond optical guiding-center solitons in single-mode fibers to precise synchronization of a radio-interferometer

Picosecond optical guiding-center solitons of the first order, peculiar for the cubic Ginzburg-Landau systems, are considered as the sync-signal carriers, being attractive for the transmission through optical fiber network. At first, we analyze the model, governed by the complex cubic Ginzburg-Landau equation in a reduced form, and present an approximate analytical description for the evolution of the main parameters inherent in guiding-center solitons. Then, these soliton-like pulses are compared with fundamental solitons adiabatically perturbed by low losses in optical fiber, being also potentially suitable to be the sync-signal carriers. This comparison suggests a conclusion that guiding-center solitons have considerable advantages in applying as lock-on signals from the viewpoints of energy consumption and ease of implementation. Interferometric technique of measuring time intervals with the help of train-average field strength correlation functions to a sub-picosecond accuracy is developed in the event of arriving the optical soliton-like pulses at a high repetition rate. Such an advantage of this technique as the ability of operating on the trains of low-power picosecond optical pulses, in particular, guiding-center solitons in single-mode fibers is revealed. Results of trial experiments with the mock-up, implemented as optical part of the sync-network for a short base radio-interferometer, are presented. (C) 2006 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.