Determination of the orthometric height difference based on optical fiber frequency transfer technique

Abstract

The development of remote frequency transfer techniques, especially the appearance of optical clocks with unprecedented stability, has prompted geoscientists to study their applications in geodesy. Using remote frequency transfer technique, by frequency comparison of two optical clocks at two points P and Q connected by optical fibers, one can measure the signal's frequency shift between them, and the geopotential difference between them can be determined based on the gravity frequency shift equation. Given the orthometric height of P, the orthometric height of Q can be determined. Since the present stability of the optical clock has achieved 1 × 10−18 or better and comparing the frequency transfer via optical fiber provides stability at 10−19 level, the optical clock network enables determining the orthometric height at centimeter-level. This study provides a formulation to determine the height difference at one-centimeter level between two points on the ground based on the optical fiber frequency transfer technique.

Keywords

• Optical fiber frequency transfer (OFFT)
• Optical fiber
• Frequency transfer
• Geopotential