Low Noise Microwave Signals Research Articles

Robust self-injection locking to a non-confocal monolithic Fabry–Perot cavity

We demonstrate an efficient simultaneous self-injection locking of two semiconductor lasers to high-order modes of a standalone monolithic non-confocal Fabry–Perot cavity. The lasers are used to generate a low-noise microwave signal on a fast photodiode. The overall improvement of the laser spectral purity exceeds 80 dB. The observed single-sideband phase noise of X- to W-band signals is at the −110 dBc/Hz level and is limited by the fundamental thermorefractive noise of the cavity. The demonstrated cavity–laser configuration can be tightly packaged and is promising for the generation of high-frequency RF signals as well as for referencing optical frequency combs.

Photonic chip-based low-noise microwave oscillator

Numerous modern technologies are reliant on the low-phase noise and exquisite timing stability of microwave signals. Substantial progress has been made in the field of microwave photonics, whereby low-noise microwave signals are generated by the down-conversion of ultrastable optical references using a frequency comb1–3. Such systems, however, are constructed with bulk or fibre optics and are difficult to further reduce in size and power consumption. In this work we address this challenge by leveraging advances in integrated photonics to demonstrate low-noise microwave generation via two-point optical frequency division4,5. Narrow-linewidth self-injection-locked integrated lasers6,7 are stabilized to a miniature Fabry–Pérot cavity8, and the frequency gap between the lasers is divided with an efficient dark soliton frequency comb9. The stabilized output of the microcomb is photodetected to produce a microwave signal at 20 GHz with phase noise of −96 dBc Hz−1 at 100 Hz offset frequency that decreases to −135 dBc Hz−1 at 10 kHz offset—values that are unprecedented for an integrated photonic system. All photonic components can be heterogeneously integrated on a single chip, providing a significant advance for the application of photonics to high-precision navigation, communication and timing systems.

Quiet point engineering for low-noise microwave generation with soliton microcombs

Low-noise microwave signals can be efficiently generated with microresonator-based dissipative Kerr solitons (microcombs). However, the phase noise level in integrated microcombs is presently several orders of magnitude above the limit imposed by fundamental thermorefractive noise, resulting from residual pump laser frequency noise transduction to the soliton repetition rate. This effect can be substantially reduced by accessing a quiet point (QP) in the parameter space, where the transduction is compensated by the dispersive wave (DW) recoil, which conventionally relies on accidental mode crossings. Here we present a method to deterministically engineer the QP, both in terms of spectral width and position, and we discover a continuum of possible QPs within the soliton existence region. Using two controlled mode crossings, we obtain regions where the QPs interact with each other, extending the noise suppression range. Our work demonstrates a promising way to reach the fundamental limit of low-noise microwave generation in integrated microcombs.

The photodetection of ultrashort optical pulse trains for low noise microwave signal generation.

Electrical signals derived from optical sources have achieved record-low levels of phase noise, and have demonstrated the highest frequency stability yet achieved in the microwave domain. Attaining such ultrastable phase and frequency performance requires high-fidelity optical-to-electrical conversion, typically performed via a high-speed photodiode. This paper reviews characteristics of the direct photodetection of optical pulses for the intent of generating high power, low phase noise microwave signals from optical sources. The two most popular types of photodiode detectors used for low noise microwave generation are discussed in terms of electrical pulse characteristics, achievable microwave power, and photodetector nonlinearities. Noise sources inherent to photodetection, such as shot noise, flicker noise, and photocarrier scattering are reviewed, and their impact on microwave phase fidelity is discussed. General guidelines for attaining the lowest noise possible from photodetection that balances power saturation, optical amplification, and amplitude-to-phase conversion, are also presented.

Low-noise microwave generation based on optical-microwave synchronization

Low-noise microwave signals are of vital importance in fields such as cold atomic optical clocks, photon radars, and remote synchronization at large facilities. Here, we report a compact all-optical-fiber method to generate a low noise microwave signal, in which the fiber loop optical-microwave phase detector is used to coherently transfer the frequency stability of the ultra-stable laser to the microwave. Combining a narrow linewidth optical frequency comb and a fiber loop optical-microwave phase discriminator, a tight phase-lock between 7 GHz dielectric oscillator and optical frequency comb is achieved, the remaining phase noise of the synchronized optical pulse sequence and the microwave signal is –100 dBc/Hz@1 Hz, and the timing jitter is 8.6 fs (1 Hz—1.5 MHz); by building two sets of low-noise microwave generation systems, the measured residual phase noise of the 7 GHz microwave is –90 dBc/Hz@1 Hz, and the corresponding frequency stability is 4.8 × 10<sup>–15</sup>@1 s. These results provide a novel idea for generating the low-noise microwaves based on optical coherent frequency division.

Coherent terahertz-to-microwave link using electro-optic-modulated Turing rolls

Arising from modulation instability, Turing rolls in optical Kerr microresonators have been used in the generation of optical frequency combs and the synthesis of microwave and terahertz frequencies. In this work, by applying electro-optic modulation on terahertz-frequency Turing rolls, we implement electro-optic frequency division with a microcomb to synthesize variable low-noise microwave signals. We also actively stabilize the terahertz oscillations to a microwave reference via intracavity power modulation, obtaining fractional frequency instabilities that are better than those of the free-running situation by up to six orders of magnitude. This study not only highlights the extraordinary spectral purity of Turing roll oscillations but also opens the way for bidirectional terahertz-to-microwave links with hybrid optical frequency comb techniques.

Dispersive-wave induced noise limits in miniature soliton microwave sources

Compact, low-noise microwave sources are required throughout a wide range of application areas including frequency metrology, wireless-communications and airborne radar systems. And the photonic generation of microwaves using soliton microcombs offers a path towards integrated, low noise microwave signal sources. In these devices, a so called quiet-point of operation has been shown to reduce microwave frequency noise. Such operation decouples pump frequency noise from the soliton’s motion by balancing the Raman self-frequency shift with dispersive-wave recoil. Here, we explore the limit of this noise suppression approach and reveal a fundamental noise mechanism associated with fluctuations of the dispersive wave frequency. At the same time, pump noise reduction by as much as 36 dB is demonstrated. This fundamental noise mechanism is expected to impact microwave noise (and pulse timing jitter) whenever solitons radiate into dispersive waves belonging to different spatial mode families.

Brillouin-Kerr Soliton Frequency Combs in an Optical Microresonator.

By generating a Brillouin laser in an optical microresonator, we realize a soliton Kerr microcomb through exciting the Kerr frequency comb using the generated Brillouin laser in the same cavity. The intracavity Brillouin laser pumping scheme enables us to access the soliton states with a blue-detuned input pump. Because of the ultranarrow linewidth and the low-noise properties of the generated Brillouin laser, the observed soliton microcomb exhibits narrow-linewidth comb lines and stable repetition rate. Also, we demonstrate a low-noise microwave signal with phase noise of -49 dBc/Hz at 10Hz, -130 dBc/Hz at 10kHz, and -149 dBc/Hz at 1MHz offsets for a 10.43GHz carrier with only a free-running input pump. The easy operation of the Brillouin-Kerr soliton microcomb with excellent performance makes our scheme promising for practical applications.

Bayesian filtering framework for noise characterization of frequency combs.

Amplitude and phase noise correlation matrices are of fundamental importance for studying noise properties of frequency combs. They include information about the origin of noise sources as well as the scaling and correlation of the noise across the comb lines. These matrices provide an insight that is essential for obtaining low-noise performance which is important for, e.g., applications in optical communication, low-noise microwave signal generation, and distance measurements. Estimation of amplitude and phase noise correlation matrices requires highly-accurate measurement technique which can distinguishes between noise sources coming from the frequency comb and the measurement system itself. Bayesian filtering provides a theoretically optimum approach for filtering of measurement noise and thereby, the most accurate measurement of phase and amplitude noise. In this paper, a novel Bayesian filtering based framework for joint estimation of amplitude and phase noise of multiple frequency comb lines is proposed, and demonstrated for phase noise characterization. Compared to the conventional approaches, that do not employ any measurement noise filtering, the proposed approach provides significantly more accurate measurements of correlation matrices, operates over a wide range of signal-to-noise-ratios and gives an insight into comb's dynamics at short scales (<10-8 s).

Silicon photonic spiral shape resonator applied to the optoelectronic oscillator

We present here the implementation of an optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) that leverages the optical comb produced by a silicon add-drop ring resonator to directly convert signals from optical to microwave domain. The OEO comprises a CW laser, an intensity modulator, a silicon add-drop ring, a photodetector, and radiofrequency amplifier. By using millimeter-long silicon-on insulator micro-ring resonator, we generated an oscillation signal with a frequency determined by the free spectral range (FSR) of the ring. In this scheme, the sharp transmission peaks in the drop port of an add-drop silicon resonator are used as the optical comb. The optimised ring has a length of 5.8 mm with a measured FSR of 112 pm, an extinction ratio of 20 dB and an optical quality factor of 2.2 × 10 5 . The complete OEO loop yields a 14.12 GHz signal with a phase noise level of -100 dBc/Hz at an offset of 100 kHz from the carrier. This result shows that OEOs directly based on millimeters long silicon rings are a promising path for generating low-noise microwave signals.

Microrod Optical Frequency Reference in the Ambient Environment

Optical and microwave reference signals with high phase coherence are needed for precision measurement and advanced technologies, especially as ultrastable signal generators move from the laboratory to the wider world. The authors explore laser-frequency stabilization with respect to a monolithic microresonator, housed without complex ambient-isolation systems. A comprehensive analysis of technical noise shows how to achieve laser coherence that is limited only by ambient thermal noise, and successful generation of a low-noise microwave signal reveals fundamental coherence between the optical and microwave frequency domains.

Spectral Purification of Microwave Signals with Disciplined Dissipative Kerr Solitons.

Continuous-wave-driven Kerr nonlinear microresonators give rise to self-organization in terms of dissipative Kerr solitons, which constitute optical frequency combs that can be used to generate low-noise microwave signals. Here, by applying either amplitude or phase modulation to the driving laser we create an intracavity potential trap to discipline the repetition rate of the solitons. We demonstrate that this effect gives rise to a novel spectral purification mechanism of the external microwave signal frequency, leading to reduced phase noise of the output signal. We experimentally observe that the microwave signal generated from disciplined solitons is injection locked by the external drive at long timescales, but exhibits an unexpected suppression of the fast timing jitter. Counterintuitively, this filtering takes place for frequencies that are substantially lower than the cavity decay rate. As a result, while the long timescale stability of the Kerr frequency comb's repetition rate is improved by more than 4 orders of magnitude, the purified microwave signal shows a reduction of the phase noise by 30dB at offset frequencies above 10kHz.

Fundamental noise dynamics in cascaded-order Brillouin lasers

The dynamics of cascaded-order Brillouin lasers make them ideal for applications such as rotation sensing, highly coherent optical communications, and low-noise microwave signal synthesis. Remarkably, when implemented at the chip scale, recent experimental studies have revealed that Brillouin lasers can operate in the fundamental linewidth regime where optomechanical and quantum noise sources dominate. To explore new opportunities for enhanced performance, we formulate a simple model to describe the physics of cascaded Brillouin lasers based on the coupled mode dynamics governed by electrostriction and the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. From this model, we obtain analytical formulas describing the steady-state power evolution and accompanying noise properties, including expressions for phase noise, relative-intensity noise, and power spectra for beat notes of cascaded laser orders. Our analysis reveals that cascading can enhance laser noise, resulting in a broader emission linewidth and larger intensity fluctuations with increased power. Consequently, higher-coherence laser emission can be achieved if indefinite cascading can be prevented. In addition, we derive a simple analytical expression that enables the Stokes linewidth to be obtained from spectra of beat notes between distinct cascaded laser orders and their relative powers. We validate our results using stochastic numerical simulations of the cascaded laser dynamics.

Stabilization of microwave signal generated by a dual-polarization DBR fiber laser via optical feedback.

Microwave signals can be generated by beating the two orthogonal polarization modes from a dual-frequency fiber grating laser. In this paper, we present that the phase noise of the microwave signal can be significantly reduced via optical feedback by cascading an external cavity. This is achieved as a result of the bandwidth narrowing of each polarization laser mode when introducing phase-matched feedbacks into the laser cavity. By optimizing the external cavity length and the feedback ratio, the noise level over low frequencies has been reduced by up to 30 dB, from -42 to -72 dBc/Hz at 1 kHz, and from -72 to -102 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz. Meanwhile the relaxation resonant peaks can be eliminated. Compared with the existing techniques, the present method can offer a cost-effective, low-noise microwave signal, without the requirement for complex electrical feedback system.

A low-noise microwave signal source

An ultrafast electron diffraction setup is described and requirements for a signal source are determined. Taking into account these requirements, a low-noise microwave signal source with a 6.2-GHz-frequency and ≥6-W power, and 6.1-GHz additional frequency and ≥5-mW power is designed. The phase noise level at the output frequency was no higher than −115 dB/Hz when the offset from the carrier was 10 kHz. The manufactured setup was supplied to the Max-Planck Institute (Garching, Germany), experiments were performed, and the first results were obtained.

Improved signal-to-noise ratio of 10 GHz microwave signals generated with a mode-filtered femtosecond laser frequency comb

We use a Fabry-Perot cavity to optically filter the output of a Ti:sapphire frequency comb to integer multiples of the original 1 GHz mode spacing. This effectively increases the pulse repetition rate, which is useful for several applications. In the case of low-noise microwave signal generation, such filtering leads to improved linearity of the high-speed photodiodes that detect the mode-locked laser pulse train. The result is significantly improved signal-to-noise ratio at the 10 GHz harmonic with the potential for a shot-noise limited single sideband phase noise floor near -168 dBc/Hz.

Opto-electronic generation of stable and low noise microwave signals

Optical technology offers a new method for generating microwave signals with extremely low noise and high stability. For that purpose a long fibre is used in the feedback loop of the oscillator. However, when using a long fibre, a lot of resonances will appear in the output spectrum, impairing the stability of oscillation. This paper introduces three new approaches for improving the frequency stability and reducing the phase noise of opto-electronic oscillators. The frequency stability is improved in two different ways: by using several fibres in the oscillator feed-back loop and/or by the insertion of an additional third-harmonic optical loop. To reduce the phase noise a special nonlinear electronic feedback technique is used. The combination of these methods can result in an optimum adjustment.

Low-noise microwave signal generation using bulk- and surface-acoustic-wave resonators

An overview is provided of some of the more important resonator utilization and associated circuit-design considerations involved in the generation of low-noise microwave signals. Signal spectral relationships in acoustic resonator-controlled oscillators are considered. Possible methods for providing additional signal short-term stability improvements are discussed.