Commissioning and performance of a phase-compensated optical link for the AWAKE experiment at CERN

TL;DR

This paper reports on the successful commissioning and long-term stable performance of a phase-compensated 3 km optical fiber link at CERN, crucial for synchronizing the SPS beam with the AWAKE experiment.

Contribution

It presents a novel phase compensation solution for long optical links that maintains phase stability over extended periods, enabling precise synchronization in high-energy physics experiments.

Findings

System operated for over a year without phase drift

Jitter below 0.6 ps observed

Maximum phase drift at the picosecond level

Abstract

In this work, we analyze the performance of the solution adopted for the compensation of the phase drift of a 3 km optical fiber link used for the AWAKE experiment at CERN. The link is devoted to transmit the reference signals used to synchronize the SPS beam with the experiment to have a fixed phase relation, regardless of the external conditions of the electronics and the link itself. The system has been operating for more than a year without observed drift in the beam phases. Specific measurements have proven that the jitter introduced by the system is lower than 0.6 ps and the maximum phase drift of the link is at the picosecond level.