A Clock Distribution and Synchronization Scheme over Optical Links for Large-scale Physics Experiments
Citation
Yang Hu, Yonggang Wang, Jie Kuang and Bo Wu, "A Clock Distribution and Synchronization Scheme over Optical Links for Large-scale Physics Experiments," Manuscript received January 5, 2021; revised January 28, 2021 and March 19, 2021.
Keywords
- Clock distribution and synchronization
- Multi-Gigabit serial links
- Optical networks
- Picosecond-level accuracy
- Optical fiber link
- Optical circulators
- Serial transceivers (SerDes)
- Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)
- Time-to-digital converters (TDC)
- Phase interpolator (PI)
- Single wavelength fiber connection
- Offset compensation
- Jitter
- Latency
- Symmetry of transmission link
- Large-scale physics experiments
- Clock stability
- Synchronization scheme
- Prototype system
- Temperature dependence
- Long-term stability
Brief
This article proposes a new optical fiber link and synchronization scheme for large-scale physics experiments, utilizing optical circulators and FPGA-embedded serial transceivers, achieving picosecond-level clock synchronization accuracy over multi-Gigabit serial links on optical networks.
Summary
This paper introduces a new clock distribution and synchronization scheme for large-scale physics experiments using optical fiber links with circulators and FPGA-embedded high-speed serial transceivers (SerDes). This method achieves picosecond-level synchronization accuracy (better than 15 ps) over a single wavelength fiber connection by precisely measuring and compensating for clock offsets using TDCs and phase interpolators within the FPGA. The proposed scheme demonstrates insensitivity to temperature and connection distance and offers a practical alternative to existing methods like White Rabbit by enhancing the symmetry of the transmission path.
Origin: https://sci.bban.top/pdf/10.1109/tns.2021.3070589.pdf#