Development of a Photonically Generated Frequency Reference for Space VLBI
Abstract
Space-based Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) can improve both the angular and temporal resolution of images over terrestrial VLBI techniques. Future space VLBI (sVLBI) missions are targeting higher observation frequencies than modern, terrestrial VLBI, and therefore these missions will require higher stability frequency references than standard hydrogen masers. While existing frequency references for space-based applications have concentrated on long-term stability, in this effort, we present a frequency reference with high short-term stability intended for sVLBI missions. This reference leverages developments in cavity-stabilized lasers from the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission and commercial efforts towards a robust, space-qualifiable optical frequency comb. We describe the implementation and experimental results of this system with a path to spaceflight, which demonstrates an Allan deviation of 3.26 × 10−14 at 1 second, 6.00 × 10−15 at 10 seconds, and 6.73 × 10−15 at 30 seconds for the 100 MHz frequency reference signal, and show that this performance meets the needs of future sVLBI missions.
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BibTeX
@misc{tomio2026development,
title = {{Development of a Photonically Generated Frequency Reference for Space VLBI}},
author = {Hannah Tomio and Kohei Yamamoto and Charlotte Zehnder and Guangning Yang and Kenji Numata and Andrew Attar and Henry Timmers and Holly Leopardi},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.24498},
eprint = {2609.24498},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.24498},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Development of a Photonically Generated Frequency Reference for Space VLBI
AU - Hannah Tomio
AU - Kohei Yamamoto
AU - Charlotte Zehnder
AU - Guangning Yang
AU - Kenji Numata
AU - Andrew Attar
AU - Henry Timmers
AU - Holly Leopardi
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/21
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.24498
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.24498
AB - Space-based Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) can improve both the angular and temporal resolution of images over terrestrial VLBI techniques. Future space VLBI (sVLBI) missions are targeting higher observation frequencies than modern, terrestrial VLBI, and therefore these missions will require higher stability frequency references than standard hydrogen masers. While existing frequency references for space-based applications have concentrated on long-term stability, in this effort, we present a frequency reference with high short-term stability intended for sVLBI missions. This reference leverages developments in cavity-stabilized lasers from the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission and commercial efforts towards a robust, space-qualifiable optical frequency comb. We describe the implementation and experimental results of this system with a path to spaceflight, which demonstrates an Allan deviation of 3.26 × 10^−14 at 1 second, 6.00 × 10^−15 at 10 seconds, and 6.73 × 10^−15 at 30 seconds for the 100 MHz frequency reference signal, and show that this performance meets the needs of future sVLBI missions.
ER -