We demonstrate a fully optical, long-distance remote comparison of
independent ultrastable optical frequencies reaching a short term stability
that is superior to any reported remote comparison of optical frequencies. We
use two ultrastable lasers, which are separated by a geographical distance of
more than 50 km, and compare them via a 73 km long phase-stabilized fiber in a
commercial telecommunication network. The remote characterization spans more
than one optical octave and reaches a fractional frequency instability between
the independent ultrastable laser systems of 3e-15 in 0.1 s. The achieved
performance at 100 ms represents an improvement by one order of magnitude to
any previously reported remote comparison of optical frequencies and enables
future remote dissemination of the stability of 100 mHz linewidth lasers within
seconds.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure