Abstract
Millimetre-wave (mmWave) technology continues to draw great interest due to its broad applications in wireless communications, radar, and spectroscopy. Compared to pure electronic solutions, photonic-based mmWave generation provides wide bandwidth, low power dissipation, and remoting through low-loss fibres. However, at high frequencies, two major challenges exist for the photonic system: the power roll-off of the photodiode, and the large signal linewidth derived directly from the lasers. Here, we demonstrate a new photonic mmWave platform combining integrated microresonator solitons and high-speed photodiodes to address the challenges in both power and coherence. The solitons, being inherently mode-locked, are measured to provide 5.8 dB additional gain through constructive interference among mmWave beatnotes, and the absolute mmWave power approaches the theoretical limit of conventional heterodyne detection at 100 GHz. In our free-running system, the soliton is capable of reducing the mmWave linewidth by two orders of magnitude from that of the pump laser. Our work leverages microresonator solitons and high-speed modified uni-traveling carrier photodiodes to provide a viable path to chip-scale, high-power, low-noise, high-frequency sources for mmWave applications.
Highlights
Millimetre waves provide key advantages in communication bandwidth, radar resolution, and spectroscopy thanks to their high carrier frequencies[1,2,3]
As the microresonator solitons consume very little pump power, and most of the pump transmits through the waveguide[5], it is possible to recycle the pump laser power to drive the microresonator solitons (Fig. 1)
Two tandem microresonator solitons driven by the same pump laser have been reported previously[14]
Summary
Millimetre waves (mmWaves) provide key advantages in communication bandwidth, radar resolution, and spectroscopy thanks to their high carrier frequencies[1,2,3]. Photonic oscillators operate at frequencies of hundreds of THz, and the frequency of the electrical signal produced by, e.g., the heterodyne detection of two lasers, is limited only by the photodiode bandwidth. The recent development of dissipative Kerr solitons in microresonators[4,5,6,7,8,9] provides an integrated solution to address the challenges of photonic-generated mmWaves in both power and coherence. These solitary wave packets achieve mode-locking by leveraging Kerr nonlinearity to compensate for cavity loss and to balance chromatic dispersion[4,10]. When compared with the conventional two-laser heterodyne detection method, soliton mode-locking provides up to a 6 dB gain in
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
