Injection-locking Research Articles

Harmonic and Subharmonic RF Injection Locking of THz Metasurface Quantum-Cascade VECSEL.

Harmonic and subharmonic RF injection locking is demonstrated in a terahertz (THz) quantum-cascade vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser (QC-VECSEL). By tuning the RF injection frequency around integer multiples and submultiples of the cavity round-trip frequency, different harmonic and subharmonic orders can be excited in the same device. Modulation-dependent behavior of the device has been studied with recorded lasing spectral broadening and locking bandwidths in each case. In particular, harmonic injection locking results in the observation of harmonic spectra with bandwidths over 200 GHz. A semiclassical Maxwell-density matrix formalism has been applied to interpret QC-VECSEL dynamics, which aligns well with experimental observations.

Ultra-Wideband Photonic Frequency-Hopping Waveform Generator Enabled by Optical Injection Locking for Secure Terahertz Wireless Communications

Ultra-Wideband Photonic Frequency-Hopping Waveform Generator Enabled by Optical Injection Locking for Secure Terahertz Wireless Communications

A V-band injection locking tripler with 26.8% locking range and 7.3-dBm output power in 65 nm CMOS

With a 65-nm CMOS process, a V-band wideband injection locking (IL) frequency tripler is proposed by cascading a multiplier and a driver amplifier stage. Concerning high output power and efficiency performance over a wideband locking range (LR), two transformer-based IL topologies are analyzed in the multiplier and driver stages, in which the cross-coupled pair is connected at the input and output ports of the transformer, respectively. Moreover, the active device is carefully designed in terms of the operating point of the harmonic generator and device sizing in the driver amplifier stage. With measurements, the proposed tripler achieves a maximum measured output power of 7.3 dBm with 22.4% output-to-DC power efficiency and 26.8% LR from 50.4 to 66 GHz. Including the output driver amplifier, the IL tripler consumes 24 mW DC power. The measured fundamental and 2nd-harmonic rejection ratios (HRR) are both better than 30 dBc, while the measured phase noise (PN) degradation is in close agreement with the theoretical value.

High-coherence parallelization in integrated photonics

Coherent optics has profoundly impacted diverse applications ranging from communications, LiDAR to quantum computations. However, developing coherent systems in integrated photonics comes at great expense in hardware integration and energy efficiency. Here we demonstrate a high-coherence parallelization strategy for advanced integrated coherent systems at minimal cost. By using a self-injection locked microcomb to injection lock distributed feedback lasers, we achieve a record high on-chip gain of 60 dB with no degradation in coherence. This strategy enables highly coherent channels with linewidths down to 10 Hz and power over 20 dBm. The overall electrical-to-optical efficiency reaches 19%, comparable to that of advanced semiconductor lasers. This method supports a silicon photonic communication link with an unprecedented data rate beyond 60 Tbit/s and reduces phase-related DSP consumption by 99.99999% compared to traditional III-V laser pump schemes. This work paves the way for realizing scalable, high-performance coherent integrated photonic systems, potentially benefiting numerous applications.

Minimizing Noise in Distributed Reflector Laser Types Under Optical Injection Locking

Minimizing Noise in Distributed Reflector Laser Types Under Optical Injection Locking

Study on the behavior of cascaded injection-locked single-loop optoelectronic oscillators

Study on the behavior of cascaded injection-locked single-loop optoelectronic oscillators

Nonlinear Dynamics of Silicon-Based Epitaxial Quantum Dot Lasers under Optical Injection

For silicon-based epitaxial quantum dot lasers (QDLs), the mismatches of the lattice constants and the thermal expansion coefficients lead to the generation of threaded dislocations (TDs), which act as the non-radiative recombination centers through the Shockley–Read–Hall (SRH) recombination. Based on a three-level model including the SRH recombination, the nonlinear properties of the silicon-based epitaxial QDLs under optical injection have been investigated theoretically. The simulated results show that, through adjusting the injection parameters including injection strength and frequency detuning, the silicon-based epitaxial QDLs can display rich nonlinear dynamical states such as period one (P1), period two (P2), multi-period (MP), chaos (C), and injection locking (IL). Relatively speaking, for a negative frequency detuning, the evolution of the dynamical state with the injection strength is more abundant, and an evolution path P1-P2-MP-C-MP-IL has been observed. Via mapping the dynamical state in the parameter space of injection strength and frequency detuning under different SRH recombination lifetime, the effects of SRH recombination lifetime on the nonlinear dynamical state of silicon-based epitaxial QDLs have been analyzed.

Numerical investigation on nonlinear dynamics of two-state quantum dot laser subject to optical injection

Based on the cascade relaxation model of the quantum dot (QD) lasers, the nonlinear dynamics of a two-state QD laser subject to optical injection is numerically studied. The simulation results show that, for a two-state QD laser operating at the ground-state (GS) and excited-state (ES) emission simultaneously, through adjusting the injection parameters, the two emission states can display the stable (S), injection locking (IL), suppression (SP), period-one (P1), period-two (P2), multi-period (MP), and chaotic pulse (CP) states when the frequency of the injection light is close to the GS lasing frequency. Further mapping of these dynamic states in the parameter space of frequency detuning and injection strength, it is found that the complex dynamic behaviors are mainly distributed in the negative frequency detuning region. In addition, the complexity of the chaotic signal is qualified by the permutation entropy (PE) calculating, and the high complexity signal with PE value over 0.95 is obtained. Moreover, within a certain frequency detuning range, the ES emission can be effectively suppressed by increasing the injection strength.

Maximisation of synchronisability under low injection power

Synchronisability of limit cycle oscillators has been measured by the width of the synchronous frequency band, known as the Arnold tongue, concerning external forcing. We clarify a fundamental limit on maximizing this synchronisability within a specified extra low power budget, which underlies an important and ubiquitous problem in nonlinear science related to an efficient synchronisation of weakly forced nonlinear oscillators. In this letter, injection-locked Class-E oscillators are considered as a practical case study, and we systematically analyse their power consumption; our observations demonstrate the independence of power consumption in the oscillator from power consumption in the injection circuit and verify the dependency of power consumption in the oscillator solely on its oscillation frequency. These systematic observations, followed by the mathematical optimisation establish the existence of a fundamental limit on synchronisability, validated through systematic circuit simulations. The results offer insights into the energetics of synchronisation for a specific class of injection-locked oscillators.

Optical Injection Locking of Longitudinal Modes in a Discrete Mode Laser: Application in Gain-Switched Optical Frequency Combs

Optical Injection Locking of Longitudinal Modes in a Discrete Mode Laser: Application in Gain-Switched Optical Frequency Combs

A LEAF-FSO-Wireless Integrated System Using DFB LD With Multiple Side Modes Injection Locking

A LEAF-FSO-Wireless Integrated System Using DFB LD With Multiple Side Modes Injection Locking

Low phase noise cavity transmission self-injection locked diode laser system for atomic physics experiments

Lasers with high spectral purity are indispensable for optical clocks and for the coherent manipulation of atomic and molecular qubits in applications such as quantum computing and quantum simulation. While the stabilization of such lasers to a reference can provide a narrow linewidth, the widely used diode lasers exhibit fast phase noise that prevents high-fidelity qubit manipulation. In this paper, we demonstrate a self-injection locked diode laser system that utilizes a high-finesse cavity. This cavity not only provides a stable resonance frequency, it also acts as a low-pass filter for phase noise beyond the cavity linewidth of around 100 kHz, resulting in low phase noise from dc to the injection lock limit. We model the expected laser performance and benchmark it using a single trapped 40Ca+-ion as a spectrum analyzer. We show that the fast phase noise of the laser at relevant Fourier frequencies of 100 kHz to >2 MHz is suppressed to a noise floor of between −110 dBc/Hz and −120 dBc/Hz, an improvement of 20 to 30 dB over state-of-the-art Pound-Drever-Hall-stabilized extended-cavity diode lasers. This strong suppression avoids incoherent (spurious) spin flips during manipulation of optical qubits and improves laser-driven gates when using diode lasers in applications involving quantum logic spectroscopy, quantum simulation, and quantum computation.

A Low Power Injection-Locked CDR Using 28 nm FDSOI Technology for Burst-Mode Applications

In this paper, a low-power Injection-Locked Clock and Data Recovery (ILCDR) using a 28 nm Ultra-Thin Body and Box-Fully Depleted Silicon On Insulator (UTBB-FDSOI) technology is presented. The back-gate auto-biasing of UTBB-FDSOI transistors enables the creation of a Quadrature Ring Oscillator (QRO) reducing both size and power consumption compared to an LC tank oscillator. By injecting a digital signal into this circuit, we realize an Injection-Locked Oscillator (ILO) with low jitter. Thanks to the good performance of this oscillator, we propose a low-power ILCDR with fast locking time and low jitter for burst-mode applications. The main novelty consists of the implementation of a complementary QRO based on back-gate control using FDSOI technology to realize a simple and efficient ILCDR circuit. With a Pseudo-Random Binary Sequence (PRBS7) at 868 Mbps, the recovered clock jitter is 26.7 ps (2.3% UIp-p) and the recovered data jitter is 11.9 ps (1% UIp-p). With a 0.6 V power supply, the power consumption is 318μW. All the results presented here are based on post-layout simulations, as no prototypes have been produced. Similarly, we can estimate the surface area of the chip (without the pad ring) at around 6600 μm2.

Frequency-converted injection-locked optoelectronic oscillator based on delay matching

Frequency-converted injection-locked optoelectronic oscillator based on delay matching

5-GHz Injection-Locked Delay Cell With 10–25 ns Adjustable Group Delay in SiGe BiCMOS

This paper presents an on-chip delay line (DL) unit with an adjustable group delay (GD) between 10 and 25 ns. This active DL is designed based on an injection locked voltage-controlled oscillator (ILVCO) topology, with operation frequency of 5 GHz. Analog GD tuning is achieved through the control voltage of the VCO and the power of the injected signal. The free running phase noise (PN) of the DL at 100 kHz and 10 MHz offsets are -98 and -140 dBc/Hz, respectively, and the DL PN follows the PN of the injected signal in the locked mode. The DL was implemented in a 130-nm SiGe BiCMOS platform, and consumes 1.26 mm2 of silicon area. The power dissipation of the VCO core and buffer stage are 1.68 and 17.7 mW, respectively. To the authors best knowledge, the proposed DL achieves one of the highest GDs among the integrated DL cells.

Progress toward ultra-cold Sr for the AION project—A red MOT and an optical-heterodyne diagnostic tool for injection-locked laser diodes

Long-baseline atom interferometers, such as the one to be built by the AION collaboration, require ultra-cold atomic clouds. These are produced by trapping the atoms in magneto-optical traps (MOTs) using high-power, narrow-linewidth lasers. We report on the laser and optical master–slave injection-locked system used to address the 1S0–3P1 strontium transition at 689 nm and on the trapping of strontium atoms in a narrowband MOT. We demonstrate the quality of the injection through the characterization of the injection lock using an easy-to-assemble method that uses a double-pass acousto-optic modulator to generate and detect a heterodyne beatnote. The reported system is used to produce an atomic cloud at a temperature of 812(43) nK in a narrowband red MOT.

Experimental Investigation on the Side Mode Injection Locking of a Single-loop OEO under RF Signal Injection

Experimental Investigation on the Side Mode Injection Locking of a Single-loop OEO under RF Signal Injection

Theoretical Demonstration of Improved Performance in Multi-Channel Photonic RF Signals Based on Optical Injection Locking of Optical Comb and Array Lasers

Multi-channel radio frequency (RF) signal generation, facilitated by photonic technology, offers significant potential for generating coherent signals with a high frequency and low phase noise, providing multifunctional capabilities across diverse platforms, including RF and photonic systems. Traditional methods for multi-channel photonic RF signal generation typically entail the integration of diverse optical components, such as filters and amplifiers. However, this integration often results in compromises related to power efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and implementation simplicity. To address these challenges, we propose a novel method for generating multi-channel photonic RF signals based on optical injection locking technology. This approach eliminates the necessity for traditional optical components, leading to a substantial enhancement in the performance of photonic RF signals. We present the design of an optical injection locking-based multi-channel photonic RF signal generation schematic and theoretically evaluate its Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) and eye pattern performance for data modulation using the Lumerical INTERCONNECT simulator. Our results reveal a significant 1.3-dB and 3.6-dB enhancement in SNR for 30-GHz and 60-GHz signals, respectively. Furthermore, we observed an improved communication performance, as evidenced by enhanced eye patterns in 3-Gbps data transmission compared to passive photonic RF signal generation methods.

Dynamics of high-power coupled nonlinear oscillator arrays for electronic beam steering technique: case of the triode based van der Pol oscillator

This paper presents the dynamics of coupled nonlinear oscillator arrays (CNOAs) as phase shifter for electronic beam steering technique. The proposed phase shifter uses oscillators of van der Pol type with a fifth-order nonlinear resistance and is built on the two architectures based injection-locked oscillator array (ILOAs) and coupled oscillator arrays (COAs). The dynamics equations of the phase shifter are proposed in the frequency and time domain. With the help of mathematical tools such as bifurcation diagrams, maximum Lyapunov exponent and Hilbert transform, important cartography of different oscillating states is deduced over large range of system parameters. Different behavior of the CNOAs including chaos, 2D-torus, multistability, locked and unlocked states are depicted. The phase shift between output voltages of each pair of coupled oscillators is presented for both architectures. A detailed analysis of locked states shows that the required phase shift is synthesized by slightly varying the frequency of the injected signal, or simply by detuning the free-running frequencies of the edge oscillators in equal but opposite directions. The proposed circuit of the phased shifter is built using the original van der Pol oscillator based on a vacuum triode. The maximal phase shift reaches 63° and 75° respectively for ILOAs and COAs. With the presence of triode in the circuit, the output voltage of each oscillating element in the array reaches 100V around 60KHz and is boosted by increasing the value of the triode bias potential to more than 420V. This, therefore, increases the total power dissipation of a single oscillator in the array to more than 47dB ( 50.12W ). This circuit is a candidate for high-power electronics beam steering at ultrasonic frequency.

Frequency Domain Modeling and Performance Analysis of Injection-Locked LC Oscillator

Frequency Domain Modeling and Performance Analysis of Injection-Locked LC Oscillator