Frequency Comb Research Articles

Suppression of clock-jitter noise and laser phase noise in arm locking

Abstract Arm-locking technique has been a focus of attention as one of the means to suppress the laser phase noise in space-based gravitational wave detector. The main idea of the arm-locking technique is to transfer the stability of the detector arm length to laser frequency by introducing a feedback control loop. Generally, laser phase noise will be suppressed by an amount similar to the magnitude of the controller gain. However, on the one hand, clock-jitter noise and optical bench motion noise, as the noise floor of the arm-locking technique, need to be suppressed. On the other hand, limited by the Doppler frequency pulling, the gain of the controller generally cannot be too large. It means that even if we do not consider clock-jitter noise and optical bench motion noise, it is difficult to suppress laser phase noise below the noise floor only by arm-locking technique. In this work, we combine self-referenced optical frequency combs and arm-locking technique to generate clock signals that are coherently referenced to the closed-loop laser beams, so that the clock-jitter noise is also suppressed by about the level of controller gain. We conduct a simulation on the above configuration, and the results show that the performance of the arm-locking is no longer limited by clock-jitter noise in the low-frequency band. To address the issue of insufficient laser phase noise suppression by the arm-locking technique, we further investigate time-delay interferometry (TDI) combinations under outputs of arbitrary arm-locking configurations. We obtain the equations for eliminating laser phase noise. To ensure that the TDI combinations can directly operate in the time domain, we derive a restricted solution space by assuming a specific form for the solutions.

Low-lying magnon frequency comb in skyrmion crystals

Low-lying magnon frequency comb in skyrmion crystals

Magnon-mediated optical frequency comb in a cavity optomagnonical system

Generally, optical frequency combs (OFC) are generated through nonlinear effects in optical pumping, such as Kerr nonlinearity, the electro-optic effect, and second-order nonlinearity. Here, we propose an effective mechanism for generating OFC in a cavity optomagnonical system via the nonlinearity of magnon-photon coupling. Our results demonstrate that robust OFC can be achieved in this system when driven by effective nanosecond pulses in the non-perturbation regime. Notably, the addition of an extra microwave pump field can enhance magnon-photon coupling and reduce the system’s reliance on the optical pump field. Furthermore, the number and spacing of the OFC teeth can be adjusted by selecting appropriate experimental parameters. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the quantum and nonlinear properties of magnons and pave the way for the development of OFC devices in integrated optics and photonics.

Metrology-grade spectroscopy source based on an optical parametric oscillator

Continuous-wave optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) are widely tunable and powerful sources of narrow-linewidth radiation. These properties make them suitable for a wide range of spectroscopic studies - but so far not at the metrological level. Indeed, although important technical OPO developments occurred more than two decades ago, and commercial devices have been available for nearly as long, the long-hoped-for the potential of these devices, providing simultaneously ultralow linewidth, ultrahigh frequency stability, ultrahigh frequency accuracy, and wide wavelength coverage has not yet become a reality. Here, we present an OPO metrology system suitable for optical spectroscopy with ultra-high resolution and accuracy in the 2.2 - 3.9 μm range. The system relies on the second-harmonic generation of the idler wave to bridge the gap to the near-infrared regime where frequency combs are readily available. By actively controlling the pump laser frequency, the idler radiation is phase-locked to an optically stabilized frequency comb, enabling a full transfer of the frequency comb’s spectral properties to the idler radiation and measuring the idler frequency with ultra-high precision. We reach fractional line widths and Allan deviations of the idler radiation at the level of 4 × 10−14 and 1 × 10−14, respectively. We also perform a thorough characterization of the stabilized OPO via a comparison with a second, independent optically stabilized frequency comb and thereby determine an overall idler frequency systematic uncertainty of less than 1.2 × 10−14. Sources of residual frequency noise are identified. The system delivered excellent results in high-accuracy spectroscopy.

Experimental Demonstration of Mode-Coupled and High-Brightness Self-Amplified Spontaneous Emission in an X-Ray Free-Electron Laser

X-ray free-electron lasers (FELs) are modern research tools with applications in multiple scientific fields. Standard x-ray FEL pulses are produced by the self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) mechanism. SASE-FEL pulses have high power, short duration, and excellent transverse coherence but exhibit poor temporal coherence with power and spectral profiles consisting of multiple randomly distributed spikes. Here, we present the demonstration of two modes that enhance the temporal coherence of SASE-FEL radiation: mode-coupled and high-brightness SASE. Both schemes are based on delaying the electron beam with magnetic chicanes placed between the undulator modules of the FEL facility. First, we show the generation of frequency combs with tunable peak separation via the mode-coupled SASE scheme. Second, we present a proof-of-principle demonstration of the high-brightness SASE mechanism, producing FEL pulses with a bandwidth reduction up to a factor of 3 with respect to standard SASE pulses. The demonstration was done at Athos, the soft x-ray beamline of SwissFEL, for photon energies between 500 and 600 eV. Our work will benefit current applications and may open up new research areas requiring frequency combs or narrow bandwidths. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Mode-resolved optical frequency comb fixed point localization via dual-comb interferometry

Mode-resolved optical frequency comb fixed point localization via dual-comb interferometry

Multi-octave two-color soliton frequency comb in integrated chalcogenide microresonators.

Mid-infrared (MIR) Kerr microcombs are of significant interest for portable dual-comb spectroscopy and precision molecular sensing due to strong molecular vibrational absorption in the MIR band. However, achieving a compact, octave-spanning MIR Kerr microcomb remains a challenge due to the lack of suitable MIR photonic materials for the core and cladding of integrated devices and appropriate MIR continuous-wave (CW) pump lasers. Here, we propose a novel slot concentric dual-ring (SCDR) microresonator based on an integrated chalcogenide glass chip, which offers excellent transmission performance and flexible dispersion engineering in the MIR band. This device achieves both phase-matching and group velocity matching in two separated anomalous dispersion regions, enabling phase-locked, two-color solitons in the MIR region with a commercial 2-μm CW laser as the pump source. Moreover, the spectral locking of the two-color soliton enhances pump wavelength selectivity, providing precise control over soliton dynamics. By leveraging the dispersion characteristics of the SCDR microresonator, we have demonstrated a multi-octave-spanning, two-color soliton microcomb, covering a spectral range from 1156.07 to 5054.95nm (200 THz) at a -40dB level, highlighting the versatility and broad applicability of our approach. And the proposed multi-octave MIR frequency comb is relevant for applications such as dual-comb spectroscopy and trace-gas sensing.

Near‐Infrared Dual‐Band Frequency Comb Generation from a Silicon Resonator

AbstractBenefitting from the mature, cost‐effective, and scalable manufacturing capabilities of complementary metal‐oxide‐semiconductor (CMOS) technology, silicon photonics has facilitated the seamless and monolithic integration of diverse functionalities, including optical sources, modulators, and photodetectors. Microresonators can generate multiple coherent optical frequency comb lines and serve as optical sources. However, at the telecom band, silicon suffers from two‐photon absorption and free‐carrier absorption, which severely hampers the realization of microcombs from a single silicon chip at telecom wavelengths until now. In this paper, a novel approach is presented and demonstrated with near‐infrared dual‐band frequency combs from a multimode silicon resonator. With a single pumping configuration, dual‐band combs are generated from the interaction between the pump and Raman Stokes fields by involving two different optical mode families but with similar group velocities. It is observed that the pump power required to generate dual‐band combs is as low as 0.7 mW. The work in bringing telecom microcombs to the silicon platform will advance silicon photonics for the next generation of monolithically integrated technology based on a single silicon chip, enabling new possibilities for further exploring silicon photonics‐based applications in optical telecommunications, sensing, and quantum metrology in the telecom band using a monolithic single silicon chip.

Synchronization Between Kerr Cavity Solitons and Broad Laser Pulse Injection

The synchronization of a soliton frequency comb in a Kerr cavity with pulsed laser injection is studied numerically. The neutral delay differential equation is used to model the light dynamics in the cavity. This model allows for the investigation of both cases where the pulse repetition period is close to the cavity round-trip time and where the repetition period of the injection pulses is close to a rational fraction M/N of the round-trip time. It is demonstrated that solitons can exist in this latter case, provided that the injection pulses are of a higher amplitude, which is directly proportional to the number M. Furthermore, it is shown that the synchronization range of the solitons is also proportional to the number M. The solitons excited by pulses with a period slightly different from the M:N-resonance can be destabilized by the Andronov–Hopf bifurcation, which occurs when the injection level at the soliton position decreases to M times the injection amplitude corresponding to the saddle-node bifurcation in a model equation with uniform injection.

Floquet topological dissipative Kerr solitons and incommensurate frequency combs

Generating coherent optical frequency combs in micro-ring resonators with Kerr nonlinearity has remarkably advanced the fundamental understanding and applications of temporal dissipative solitons. However, the spectrum of such soliton combs is restricted to the conventional definition of combs as phase-locked, equidistant lines in frequency. Here, we introduce a new class of floquet topological soliton combs that emerge in two-dimensional arrays of strongly coupled resonators engineered using floquet topology. Specifically, we demonstrate incommensurate combs where the comb lines are not equidistant but remain phase-locked. These incommensurate combs are generated by self-organized, phase-locked floquet topological soliton molecules that circulate the edge of the array. We show that these floquet topological solitons are robust and they navigate around defects, allowing for agile tunability of the comb line spacing. Our results introduce a new paradigm in using floquet engineering to generate unconventional frequency combs beyond those achievable with single or weakly coupled resonators.

Realization of multi-transverse-mode squeezed optical frequency combs with Gouy phase compensation

Multimode quantum light fields significantly enhance quantum state manipulation and communication capabilities by expanding the dimensionality of the Hilbert space. In this work, we elaborately design a non-horizontal cavity suitable for a Gouy phase-compensated synchronously pumped optical parametric oscillator. By injecting an optical frequency comb in HG10 mode into the cavity as the seed, we demonstrate the simultaneous generation of a bright squeezed optical frequency comb in HG10 mode and a vacuum squeezed optical frequency comb in HG01 mode. The coexistence of amplitude quadrature squeezed fields in these two orthogonal first-order Hermite-Gaussian transverse modes also suggest the presence of quadrature entanglement between the two first-order Laguerre-Gaussian modes, LG0 + 1 and LG0 - 1. This research underscores the capability of one-step generation of multi-transverse-mode squeezed optical frequency combs using a single cavity, marking a significant stride in the realm of quantum optics.

Calibration experiments for dual-comb IPDA XCO2 measurements using a variable pressure absorption cell

Measuring XCO2, the column-averaged dry-air mixing ratio of CO2 in the atmosphere, is essential for monitoring climate change and guiding mitigation efforts. Integrated Path Differential Absorption (IPDA) is a highly effective XCO2 measurement solution for space-borne lidar. However, the limited number of wavelengths limits its capabilities. IPDA, enhanced with Electro-Optical Frequency Comb (EOFC) technology, offers a robust solution. This study validates IPDA measurements using both asymmetric and symmetric Electro-Optic Dual-Comb Spectroscopy (EO-DCS) systems at 1572 nm. This indoor experimental system does not operate in a true lidar mode, but focuses on IPDA measurements of XCO2 through a transmission-style cell. We achieved atmospheric spectral transmittance by a variable pressure CO2 absorption cell, correlating pressures from 425 to 470 mb to XCO2 of 386.81–447.08 ppm. The XCO2 measurements of asymmetric/symmetric systems both exhibit excellent linearity. Their linear fittings yielded the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) as low as 0.198/0.064 ppm, and the Mean Absolute Percentage Errors (MAPE) was as low as 0.0386%/0.0140%. This level of measurement performance has never been demonstrated in other works. Accuracy was assessed by comparing IPDA results with a pressure gauge, and precision was confirmed through repetitive measurements (1000 times over 10 min) and Allan variance analysis. Notably, our system operates effectively without frequency stabilization, showing tolerance to laser frequency drift—a significant advantage for IPDA applications. The entire experiment was conducted in a comparison between asymmetric and symmetric systems, especially in the analysis of absorption line residuals. We discuss the error transfer from phase to spectral transmittance and its implications and explained why the residuals in the asymmetric system were larger. These results underscore the superior performance of EO-DCS IPDA in measuring XCO2 and its promising potential for applications. To our knowledge, this is the only DCS IPDA calibration demonstration to date.

Discrete and Parallel Frequency‐Bin Entanglement Generation from Quantum Frequency Comb

AbstractPhotons’ frequency degree of freedom is promising to realize large‐scale quantum information processing. Quantum frequency combs (QFCs) generated in integrated nonlinear microresonators can produce multiple frequency modes with narrow linewidth. Here, polarization‐entangled QFCs are utilized to generate discrete frequency‐bin entangled states. Fourteen pairs of polarization‐entangled photons with different frequencies are simultaneously transformed into frequency‐bin entangled states. The characteristic of frequency‐bin entanglement is demonstrated by Hong‐Ou‐Mandel interference, which can be performed with single or multiple frequency pairs in parallel. This work paves the way for harnessing large‐scale frequency‐bin entanglement and converting between different degrees of freedom in quantum information processing.

Ultrafast Polarization‐Maintaining Fiber Lasers: Design, Fabrication, Performance, and Applications

AbstractUltrafast polarization‐maintaining fiber lasers (UPMFLs), with superior optical performance and high immunity to environmental disturbances, are highly preferable in a variety of industrial and scientific applications such as high‐precision micromachining and biomedical imaging. Especially, the utilization of PM fibers endows the laser intrinsic stability, thereby enabling the construction of robust and low‐noise optical frequency comb systems. To meet more demanding application challenges, continuous efforts have been invested in the design and fabrication of UPMFLs, aiming to reach unprecedented levels of various pulse parameters, that is, to achieve shorter pulse duration, higher or lower repetition rate, and higher pulse energy. This review presents a detailed overview of different passive mode‐locking techniques for pulsed operation and the most significant achievements in UPMFLs. Representative advances at 1.0, 1.55, and 2.0 µm spectral regions are presented and summarized. The state‐of‐the‐art lasing performance is application‐oriented, and conversely, optical improvements in all‐PM pulsed lasers promote emerging applications, which are also discussed and analyzed. How to overcome the bottlenecks of UPMFLs in terms of pulse duration, repetition rate, emission wavelength, and pulse energy to make them powerful tools for physical, medical, and biological applications remains challenging in the future.

Linear and nonlinear coupling of light in twin-resonators with Kerr nonlinearity

Nonlinear effects in microresonators are efficient building blocks for all-optical computing and telecom systems. With the latest advances in microfabrication, coupled microresonators are used in a rapidly growing number of applications. In this work, we investigate the coupling between twin-resonators in the presence of Kerr nonlinearity. We use an experimental setup with controllable coupling between two high-Q resonators and discuss the effects caused by the simultaneous presence of linear and nonlinear coupling between the optical fields. Linear-coupling-induced mode splitting is observed at low input powers, with the controllable coupling leading to a tunable mode splitting. At high input powers, the hybridized resonances show spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) effects, in which the optical power is unevenly distributed between the resonators. Our experimental results are supported by a detailed theoretical model of nonlinear twin-resonators. With the recent interest in coupled resonator systems for neuromorphic computing, quantum systems, and optical frequency comb generation, our work provides important insights into the behavior of these systems at high circulating powers.

Busse Balloon for Optical Frequency Combs From a Semiconductor Laser With Time-Delayed Optoelectronic Feedback

Busse Balloon for Optical Frequency Combs From a Semiconductor Laser With Time-Delayed Optoelectronic Feedback

LSTM-Resnet-Assisted Linearization for the Dual Frequency Comb Photonic RF Channelized Receiver

LSTM-Resnet-Assisted Linearization for the Dual Frequency Comb Photonic RF Channelized Receiver

Maximizing transmission capacity in optical communication systems utilizing a microresonator comb laser source with adaptive modulation and bandwidth allocation strategies

Traditional optical communication systems employ bulky laser arrays that lack coherence and are prone to severe frequency drift. Dissipative Kerr soliton microcombs offer numerous evenly spaced optical carriers with a high optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) and coherence in chip-scale packages, potentially addressing the limitations of traditional wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) sources. However, soliton microcombs exhibit inhomogeneous OSNR and linewidth distributions across the spectra, leading to variable communication performance under uniform modulation schemes. Here, we demonstrate, for the first time, to our knowledge, the application of adaptive modulation and bandwidth allocation strategies in optical frequency comb (OFC) communication systems to optimize modulation schemes based on OSNR, linewidth, and channel bandwidth, thereby maximizing capacity. Experimental verification demonstrates that the method enhances spectral efficiency from 1.6 to 2.31 bit ⋅ s−1 ⋅ Hz−1, signifying a 44.58% augmentation. Using a single-soliton microcomb as the light source, we achieve a maximum communication capacity of 10.68 Tbps after 40 km of transmission in the C-band, with the maximum single-channel capacity reaching 432 Gbps. The projected combined transmission capacity for the C- and L-bands could surpass 20 Tbps. The proposed strategies demonstrate promising potential of utilizing soliton microcombs as future light sources in next-generation optical communication.

Monolithic dispersion engineered mid-infrared quantum cascade laser frequency comb

The high-power quantum cascade laser (QCL) frequency comb capable of room temperature operation is of great interest to high-precision measurement and low-noise molecular spectroscopy. While a significant amount of research is devoted to the longwave spectral range, shortwave 3–5 μm QCL combs are still relatively underdeveloped due to the excessive material dispersion. In this work, we propose a monolithic integrated multimode waveguide scheme for effective dispersion engineering and high-power-efficiency operation. Over watt-level output power at room temperature with a wall plug efficiency of 7% and robust dispersion reduction is achieved from a quantum cascade laser frequency comb at a wavelength approximately 4.6 μm. Narrow beatnote linewidth less than 1 kHz and clear dual-comb multiheterodyne comb lines manifest the coherent phase relation among the comb modes which is crucial to fast molecular spectroscopy. This monolithic dispersion engineered waveguide design is also compatible to an efficient active–passive optical coupling scheme and would open up a new research playground for ring comb and on-chip dual-comb spectroscopy.

Lineshape of Amplitude-Modulated Stimulated Raman Spectra.

The amplitude modulation of a pump field and the phase-sensitive detection of a pump-induced intensity change of a probe field encompass a common practice in nonlinear spectroscopies to enhance the detection sensitivity. A drawback of this approach arises when the modulation frequency is comparable to the width of the spectral feature of interest, since the presence of sidebands in the amplitude-modulated pump field provides distortion to the observed spectral lineshape. This represents a problem when accurate measurements of spectral lineshapes and line positions are pursued, as recently happened in our group with the metrology of the Q(1) line in the 1-0 band of molecular hydrogen. The measurement was performed with a Stimulated Raman Scattering spectrometer that was calibrated, for the first time, against an optical frequency comb. In this work, we develop an analytical tool for nonlinear Stimulated Raman spectroscopies that allows us to precisely quantify spectral distortions arising from high-frequency amplitude modulation in one of the interacting fields. Once they are known, spectral distortions can be deconvolved from the measured spectra to retrieve unbiased data. The application of this tool to the measured spectra is discussed.