Optically referenced broadband electronic synthesizer with 15 digits of resolution

Fundamental science, as well as all communications and navigation systems, are heavily reliant on the phase, timing, and synchronization provided by low-noise and agile frequency sources. Although research into varied photonic and electronic schemes have strived to improve upon the spectral purity of microwave and millimeter-wave signals, the reliance on conventional electronic synthesis for tuning has resulted in limited progress in broadband sources. Using a digital-photonic synthesizer architecture that derives its time-base from a high-stability optical reference cavity, we generate frequency-agile and wideband microwave signals with exceptional dynamic range and with a fractional frequency instability of 1 x 10(-15) at 1 s. The presented architecture demonstrates digitally controlled, user defined and broadband frequency tuning from RF to 100 GHz with orders-of-magnitude improvement in noise performance over room-temperature electronic wide-bandwidth synthesis schemes.