Optical Delay Line Research Articles

Application of pairs of coupled microresonators for control of optical radiation: theoretical analysis

The paper presents an analysis of optical delay lines based on coupled ring microresonators. The introduced optical delay is caused by realization of a slow light mode in a system with high Q-factor. Using the method of slowly varying amplitudes, a theoretical analysis was carried out and an equation for the transfer function of the system under consideration was obtained. Using numerical simulation, the possibility of controlling the introduced delay and attenuation of the delayed signal was investigated. It follows from the numerical simulation that the proposed system of coupled resonators allows to change the delay in the range from 165 ps to 629 ps for a transmitted signal with a frequency band up to 300 MHz with a maximum attenuation of the delayed signal –4.7 dB.

Passively synchronized dual-color soliton fiber laser based on single-walled carbon nanotubes

In this work, we propose a uniquely designed fiber laser to generate dual-color soliton molecules, which are stable bound states made up of solitons with different carrier frequencies, pulse widths and soliton energies. This fiber laser consists of two resonators, which are cascaded by a pair of wavelength division multiplexers (WDMs), and a single-walled carbon nanotube saturable absorber (SWCNT-SA) is placed in the common branch shared by two sub-cavities to achieve optical soliton mode-locking. The optical solitons generated by this laser have central wavelengths of 1530.43 nm and 1547.62 nm with pulse widths of 0.832 ps and 1.198 ps, respectively. The synchronous mode-locked operation of the two sub-cavities can be easily achieved by adjusting the optical delay line (DL) in one of the resonant cavities. When the synchronized state is reached, two solitons with different central wavelengths operate synchronously and stably at a consistent repetition frequency of ∼8.1505 MHz and dual-color soliton molecules are generated. The fiber laser has the advantages of simple structure and controllable generation of soliton molecules, which provide a new idea for the design of soliton molecule ultrafast fiber laser.

Enhanced Q-factor and effective length silicon photonics filter utilizing nested ring resonators

In this study, we investigate a novel design of an on-chip nested coupled ring resonator to enhance the quality factor and the effective length of the resonator. The configuration consists of an open ring and racetrack resonator, with lengths of 340 μm and 184.4 μm, respectively, with a coupling ratio of 97/3. In this regard, the proposed nested cavity has been experimentally characterized and compared with a single cavity ring resonator. Our results show a significant improvement in the quality factor by a factor of four. This improvement in performance opens up exciting new possibilities for state-of-the-art applications, such as compact optical sensors and delay lines. Our proposed design represents a significant advancement in the field of integrated optics, and we believe that it has the potential to enable a broad range of applications in the future.

Design of a Modified Coupled Resonators Optical Waveguide Supporting a Frozen Mode

We design a three-way silicon optical waveguide with the Bloch dispersion relation supporting a stationary inflection point (SIP). The SIP is a third order exceptional point of degeneracy (EPD) where three Bloch modes coalesce forming the frozen mode with greatly enhanced amplitude. The proposed design consists of a coupled resonators optical waveguide (CROW) coupled to a parallel straight waveguide. At any given frequency, this structure supports three pairs of reciprocal Bloch eigenmodes, propagating and/or evanescent. In addition to full-wave simulations, we also employ a so-called “hybrid model” that uses transfer matrices obtained from full-wave simulations of sub-blocks of the unit cell. This allows us to account for radiation losses and enables a design procedure based on minimizing the eigenmodes’ coalescence parameter. The proposed finite-length CROW displays almost unitary transfer function at the SIP resonance, implying a nearly perfect conversion of the input light into the frozen mode. The group delay and the effective quality factor at the SIP resonance show an <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">N</i> <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sup> scaling, where <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">N</i> is the number of unit cells in the cavity. The frozen mode in the CROW can be utilized in various applications like sensors, lasers and optical delay lines.

High-resolution measurement of laser frequency drift using stable delayed self-heterodyne interferometry.

We demonstrate a laser frequency drift measurement system based on the delayed self-heterodyne technique. To ensure long-term measurement validity, an ultra-stable optical fiber delay line is realized by monitoring and locking the transmission delay of a probe signal with a well-designed phase-locked loop. The frequency stability indicated by overlapping Allan deviation is 6.39 × 10-18 at 1000-s averaging time, ensuring a real-time measurement resolution of 18.6 kHz. After carefully determining the optimal fiber length, a 5-kHz periodic frequency change with a period of merely 0.5 s is easily detected, proving its high frequency resolution and fast response. At last, the frequency drift characteristics of three different lasers after being powered on are investigated. Thanks to its high precision and long-term stability, the proposed method is ideal for monitoring long-term laser frequency evolution with high precision.

ИЗМЕРЕНИЕ ФАЗОВЫХ И АМПЛИТУДНЫХ ШУМОВ ПОЛУПРОВОДНИКОВЫХ ЛАЗЕРОВ. МЕТОДИКА ИЗМЕРЕНИЙ. КАЛИБРОВКА. РЕЗУЛЬТАТЫ

The application of the frequency detector method for measuring the phase noise spectrum of semiconductor lasers has been experimentally demonstrated. The frequency detector is based on an unbalanced Mach-Zehnder interferometer and a photodetector. Analytical relations are obtained that allow one to choose the parameters of the Mach-Zehnder interferometer and perform experimental calibration of the measuring system. A technique is proposed for measuring the spectral components of the phase noise of lasers in the presence of a slow drift of the delay in fiber-optic lines and the frequency of the laser under study. The results of measuring the phase noise of a low-noise DX-1 laser module and high-noise laser diodes LSDLD155 (DFB) and LSFLD155 (FP) are presented. A strong correlation between the amplitude and phase noise levels of these lasers is found. The decisive influence of the noise of LSDLD155 and LSFLD155 lasers on the level of phase noise of optoelectronic (OE) microwave generators built using them is shown. It has been suggested that the low-noise laser module DX-1, which has a phase noise level 20–60 dB lower (in different parts of the spectrum), is not decisive in the level of phase and amplitude noise of an optoelectronic microwave generator. The investigated OE generator was built during the research in this work. The generator has low phase noise: −120 dBc/Hz at a frequency detuning of 10 kHz. Oscillation frequency 6.8 GHz; fiber optic delay line length 200 m.

Graphical Explanations of Optical Path Length Difference Amplification Effect in Fiber-Optic Optical Delay Line using Chirped Fiber Bragg Gratings

Graphical Explanations of Optical Path Length Difference Amplification Effect in Fiber-Optic Optical Delay Line using Chirped Fiber Bragg Gratings

Large angle electromagnetic induced reflection – Like of phase coupled eccentric ring in metasurface

Electromagnetic induced reflection (EIR)-like is a phenomenon of electromagnetic induced transparency(EIT) -like has potential applications in optical delay lines, slow light devices and high sensitivity sensors. In this paper, a metasurface structure composed of four eccentric rings was designed. And the reflection and magnetic field distributions are investigated by finite integral method in time domain method. The results show that the EIR-like effect was obtained by designed structure through tuned the phase of eccentric rings. The equivalent impedance of the structure was calculated by inversion method. And the multipole scattering spectrum was calculated by the theory of multipole scattering to further explain the EIR-like effect. The influence of the structural parameters on the reflection illustrates the EIR-like effect was studied. To further explore the potential application of the phenomenon, the effect of the large angle on the EIR-like was also studied. The results show that the structure has a large angle of polarization insensitive EIR-like effect. The structure has potential applications in terahertz optical communication, terahertz sensing and reflector.

Optical nanofiber stretcher.

Piezoelectric stretching of optical fiber is a technique that enables the creation of optical delays of a few picoseconds; this is useful in a variety of applications in interferometry or optical cavities. Most commercial fiber stretchers involve lengths of fiber of a few tens of meters. Using a 120-mm-long optical micro-nanofiber, we can create a compact optical delay line that achieves tunable delays of up to 19 ps at telecommunication wavelengths. The high elasticity of silica and the micron-scale diameter allow this significant optical delay to be achieved with low tensile force while keeping the overall length short. We successfully report both static and dynamic operation of this novel, to the best of our knowledge, device. It could find application in interferometry and laser cavity stabilization, where short optical paths and strong resistance to the environment would be required.

Synchronized triple-wavelength fiber lasers at 1, 1.55, and 1.9 µm.

Synchronized lasers working at different wavelengths are of great significance for numerous applications, such as high-energy femtosecond pulse emission, Raman microscopy, and precise timing distribution. Here, we report synchronized triple-wavelength fiber lasers working at 1, 1.55, and 1.9 µm, respectively, by combining the coupling and injection configurations. The laser system consists of three fiber resonators gained by ytterbium-doped fiber, erbium-doped fiber, and thulium-doped fiber, respectively. Ultrafast optical pulses formed in these resonators are obtained by passive mode-locking with the use of a carbon-nanotube saturable absorber. A maximum cavity mismatch of ∼1.4 mm is reached by the synchronized triple-wavelength fiber lasers in the synchronization regime by finely tuning the variable optical delay lines incorporated in the fiber cavities. In addition, we investigate the synchronization characteristics of a non-polarization-maintaining fiber laser in an injection configuration. Our results provide a new, to the best of our knowledge, perspective on multi-color synchronized ultrafast lasers with broad spectral coverage, high compactness, and a tunable repetition rate.

Electro-optically tunable optical delay line with a continuous tuning range of ∼220 fs in thin-film lithium niobate.

We demonstrate fabrication of a 30-cm-long thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) optical delay line (ODL) incorporated with segmented microelectrodes of 24-cm total length using the femtosecond laser lithography technique. The transmission spectra of the unbalanced Mach-Zehnder interferometers (MZIs) reveal an ultra-low propagation loss of 0.025 dB/cm. The device exhibits a low half-wave voltage of 0.45 V, corresponding to a voltage-length product of 10.8 V·cm, which is equivalent to 5.4 V·cm in the push-pull configuration. We also demonstrate a high electro-optic (EO) tuning efficiency of 3.146 fs/V and a continuous tuning range of 220 fs in the fabricated ODL.

Phase-Derived Ranging Based Fiber Transfer Delay Measurement Using a Composite Signal for Distributed Radars with Fiber Networks

Fiber transfer delay (FTD) variations influence the coherence of distributed radars with fiber networks, resulting in a performance degradation in target detecting and imaging. To measure and compensate for the variation, a phase-derived ranging based FTD measurement using a composite signal is proposed. The composite signal comprises a sinusoidal component and a linear frequency modulation (LFM) component. As the composite signal passes through a fiber under test (FUT), the sinusoidal component generates a phase shift that corresponds to the FTD. The phase shift can be represented by two parameters: the number of complete periods of 2π that can be estimated by using the LFM component, and a phase shift less than 2π that be measured employing the sinusoidal component. When using the proposed measurement system to measure FTD variations in a distributed radar, only an additional sinusoidal component is needed, which minimizes interference with radar signals. Moreover, the proposed measurement system can share core function modules such as signal generation and process modules with distributed radars, which enhances the compatibility and reduces the overall complexity. Experiments are carried out to measure a variable optical delay line and a long optical fiber. The experiment results verify the feasibility of the measurement system and show that a measurement range of more than 15 km, an accuracy of ±0.1 ps and a measurement time of 105 ms can be achieved.

Frozen mode regime in an optical waveguide with a distributed Bragg reflector

We introduce a glide symmetric optical waveguide exhibiting a stationary inflection point (SIP) in the Bloch wavenumber dispersion relation. An SIP is a third-order exceptional point of degeneracy (EPD) where three Bloch eigenmodes coalesce to form a so-called frozen mode with vanishing group velocity and diverging amplitude. We show that the incorporation of chirped distributed Bragg reflectors and distributed coupling between waveguides in the periodic structure facilitates the SIP formation and greatly enhances the characteristics of the frozen mode regime. We confirm the existence of an SIP in two ways: by observing the flatness of the dispersion diagram and also by using a coalescence parameter describing the separation of the three eigenvectors collapsing on each other. We find that, in the absence of losses, both the quality factor and the group delay at the SIP grow with the cubic power of the cavity length. The frozen mode regime can be very attractive for light amplification and lasing in optical delay lines, sensors, and modulators.

Real-time adaptive optical self-interference cancellation for in-band full-duplex transmission using SARSA(λ) reinforcement learning.

Self-interference (SI) due to signal leakage from a local transmitter is an issue in an in-band full-duplex (IBFD) transmission system, which would cause severe distortions to a receiving signal of interest (SOI). By superimposing a local reference signal with the same amplitude and opposite phase, the SI signal can be fully canceled. However, as the manipulation of the reference signal is usually operated manually, it is difficult to ensure a high speed and high accurate cancellation. To overcome this problem, a real-time adaptive optical SI cancellation (RTA-OSIC) scheme using a SARSA(λ) reinforcement learning (RL) algorithm is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The proposed RTA-OSIC scheme can automatically adjust the amplitude and phase of a reference signal by adjusting a variable optical attenuator (VOA) and a variable optical delay line (VODL) achieved through an adaptive feedback signal, which is generated by evaluating the quality of the received SOI. To verify the feasibility of the proposed scheme, a 5 GHz 16QAM OFDM IBFD transmission experiment is demonstrated. By using the proposed RTA-OSIC scheme, for an SOI at three different bandwidths of 200, 400, and 800 MHz, the signal can be adaptively and correctly recovered within 8 time periods (TPs), which is the required time of a single adaptive control step. The cancellation depth for the SOI with a bandwidth of 800 MHz is 20.18 dB. The short- and long-term stability of the proposed RTA-OSIC scheme is also evaluated. The experimental results indicate that the proposed approach could be a promising solution for real-time adaptive SI cancellation in future IBFD transmission systems.

A Photonic Time-Interleaved ADC Architecture Based on Optical Clock Distribution and Elector-Optical Modulation Technology

A photonic time-interleaved analog-to-digital conversion (PTIADC) scheme by exploring optical clock distribution technology and elector-optical modulation technology is presented in this work. In the proposed PTIADC system, the interleaved sampling clocks for several channel analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) are implemented by optical clocks. A proof-of-concept experiment with a four-channel 400 MS/s PTIADC system has been achieved, and the performance has been experimentally demonstrated. Experimental results show that the proposed method can offer four-channel clock signals with low-timing jitters. The effective number of bits (ENOB) of the constructed PTIADC is ∼6 bits. Additionally, timing mismatch calibration via conveniently adjusting the length of optical delay lines produces a 26 dB spur suppression.

High-density integrated delay line using extreme skin-depth subwavelength grating waveguides.

Optical delay lines control the flow of light in time, introducing phase and group delays for engineering interferences and ultrashort pulses. Photonic integration of such optical delay lines is essential for chip-scale lightwave signal processing and pulse control. However, typical photonic delay lines based on long spiral waveguides require extensively large chip footprints, ranging from mm2 to cm2 scales. Here we present a scalable, high-density integrated delay line using a skin-depth engineered subwavelength grating waveguide, i.e., an extreme skin-depth (eskid) waveguide. The eskid waveguide suppresses the crosstalk between closely spaced waveguides, significantly saving the chip footprint area. Our eskid-based photonic delay line is easily scalable by increasing the number of turns and should improve the photonic chip integration density.

Matrix analysis for back reflection and mode conversion in silicon waveguide bend structure

Waveguide bend structure is a main building block in many silicon photonic devices such as in ring resonators, S-bend attenuators, arrayed waveguide filters and optical delay lines in addition to the use in routing the optical signal. The curvature structure of the bend may induce back reflection at the interfaces and mode conversion effects. In this work, a scattering-matrix model is suggested to account for these effects in the case of coexisting different polarizations (i.e., TE and TM modes) that is unavoidable when the TM mode is of interest due to the lower cut-off of the TE mode. The waveguide used in the analysis is an inverted ridge, where the silicon core is 500 nm in width and 220 nm in height. The silicon core is surrounded by silicon dioxide from all sides except being exposed to air at the top. The analysis is focused on the C-band but can be extended to other spectral regions. Finite difference time domain simulations are carried out showing back refection levels in the order of −50 dB and mode cross coupling in the order of −55 dB. The presented matrix model shows good agreement and can be used to analyze complex photonic circuits when numeral simulations is of a high computational burden.

Modular architectures to deterministically generate graph states

Graph states are a family of stabilizer states which can be tailored towards various applications in photonic quantum computing and quantum communication. In this paper, we present a modular design based on quantum dot emitters coupled to a waveguide and optical fiber delay lines to deterministically generate N-dimensional cluster states and other useful graph states such as tree states and repeater states. Unlike previous proposals, our design requires no two-qubit gates on quantum dots and at most one optical switch, thereby, minimizing challenges usually posed by these requirements. Furthermore, we discuss the error model for our design and demonstrate a fault-tolerant quantum memory with an error threshold of 0.53% in the case of a 3d graph state on a Raussendorf-Harrington-Goyal (RHG) lattice. We also provide a fundamental upper bound on the correctable loss in the fault-tolerant RHG state based on the percolation theory, which is 1.24 dB or 0.24 dB depending on whether the state is directly generated or obtained from a simple cubic cluster state, respectively.

Microwave-photonic optical fiber interferometers for wavelength interrogation of fiber Bragg grating sensors with high sensitivity and a tunable dynamic range.

We propose and demonstrate a new, to the best of our knowledge, microwave interference-based scheme with high sensitivity and tunable measurement range, which is realized by a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI). A chirped fiber Bragg grating and single-mode fiber serve as the two unbalanced arms of the RF interferometer. The induced differential chromatic dispersion transfers the wavelength shift of the fiber Bragg gratings to the change of the RF phase difference between the two interferometric carriers, which ultimately leads to the variation of the RF signal intensity. The phase sensitivity can be improved by adjusting the power ratio of the two beams in the interferometer and coarse adjustment of the optical variable delay line (OVDL). The OVDL is also employed to tune the measurement range of the system by adjusting the time delay difference between the two arms of the MZI. The system effectively solves the problem of unavoidable attenuation of the sensitivity of the optical carrier-based microwave interferometry system caused by the change of phase difference due to the change of measurement parameters, avoiding the mutual constraint between the measurement range and high sensitivity.

Two-Dimensional Phased-Array Receiver Based on Integrated Silicon True Time Delay Lines

In this work, we first demonstrate a complete 2-D photonics-aided phased-array antenna (PAA) receiver with so far the largest scale of 8 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\times $ </tex-math></inline-formula> 8 by utilizing highly integrated silicon true-time delay line chips. The prototype utilizes the wavelength-division-multiplexing technology to build the crucial optical beamforming network (OBFN) module so as to dramatically reduce the type and amount of silicon binary integrated optical time delay lines. The measured beam scanning range in the frequency range from 2 to 6 GHz is <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$90^{\circ }\,\,\times \,\,90^{\circ }$ </tex-math></inline-formula> with a beam-pointing step of 1°. Furthermore, due to the online channelized signal processing module, we systematically characterize sensitivity, RF gain, and dynamic range of the photonics-aided PAA. Considering that we first utilize the photonic integration technology to realize a 2-D PAA demonstrator with the largest scale and the highest technological maturity, we believe that it presents a milestone in the development of future microwave photonics-based radar systems.