Patent ID: 8493123

Claim:
A system for synchronizing a local clock and a remote clock, the system comprising: a receiver associated with the local clock, configured to receive a remote pulse sequence from the remote clock, the remote pulse sequence having a pulse repetition frequency and spectral characteristics, including a remote pulse width, that are known to the local clock; a local pulse emitter configured to create a local pulse sequence, having a local pulse width, at the local clock; optical elements configured to spatially align the local pulse sequence and the remote pulse sequence; an interferometer configured to create an interference pattern between the spatially aligned local pulse sequence and remote pulse sequence; and a processor configured to: interpret the interference pattern to calculate a time offset between the local clock and the remote clock; and apply the time offset to a slave one of the local clock and the remote clock, to synchronize the slave to match a master one of the local clock and the remote clock; wherein a temporal resolution of the time offset is a fraction of the local pulse width and the remote pulse width.