Phase coherent supercontinuum generation and atmospheric delivery of frequency references using a femtosecond frequency comb

In this dissertation, a phase coherent supercontinuum spanning from 1160 nm to 1780 nm was generated for potential development of a femtosecond frequency comb. Frequency references both in microwave and optical frequency regimes were remotely delivered over 60 m round-trip propagation distance via the atmosphere. For a microwave frequency reference transmission, the RMS timing jitter integrated over 1--105 Hz was 1.86 ps, and agrees with values indicated by atmospheric models for pulse propagation. The root Allan variance was 3 x 10-12 at 1 s averaging time with tau -1 dependence. With the transmission of optical frequency reference the root Allan variance value 3 x 10-13 at 1 s averaging time was achieved. The uncontrolled environment influences the long-term stability measurements of root Allan variance and the noise spectra indicate involvement of random processes. Better stability and longer transmission distances are possible with active-noise cancellation techniques and large-scale optics.