Ultra-wide Tuning Range Research Articles

Spin-torque nano-oscillators and their applications

Spin-torque nano-oscillators (STNOs) have emerged as an intriguing category of spintronic devices based on spin transfer torque to excite magnetic moment dynamics. The ultra-wide frequency tuning range, nanoscale size, and rich nonlinear dynamics have positioned STNOs at the forefront of advanced technologies, holding substantial promise in wireless communication, and neuromorphic computing. This review surveys recent advances in STNOs, including architectures, experimental methodologies, magnetodynamics, and device properties. Significantly, we focus on the exciting applications of STNOs, in fields ranging from signal processing to energy-efficient computing. Finally, we summarize the recent advancements and prospects for STNOs. This review aims to serve as a valuable resource for readers from diverse backgrounds, offering a concise yet comprehensive introduction to STNOs. It is designed to benefit newcomers seeking an entry point into the field and established members of the STNOs community, providing them with insightful perspectives on future developments.

Fully tunable microwave photonic narrow bandpass filter using an on-chip dual-drive microring resonator

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a fully tunable microwave photonic narrow bandpass filter based on phase modulation to intensity modulation (PM-IM) conversion. In the filter implementation, an on-chip dual-drive microring resonator (MRR) is a key component. This resonator leverages a multimode waveguide to enable a high Q-factor. A metallic micro-heater and a lateral PN junction are simultaneously created for resonance wavelength tuning. When one driving signal is applied to the micro-heater, a large tuning range of the resonance wavelength is resulted; when another driving signal is applied to the PN junction, a fast tuning speed of the resonance wavelength is caused. By jointly using two different tuning mechanisms, the realized microwave photonic filter features a large frequency tuning range as well as a fast tuning speed. In addition, the filter bandwidth can also be tuned. A silicon-based dual-drive high-Q racetrack MRR chip is designed, fabricated, and evaluated. By incorporating the chip in a microwave photonic filter system, a bandpass filter with a narrow bandwidth of 1.27 GHz is achieved. An ultra-wide frequency tuning range from 3 to 51 GHz, an ultra-fast tuning speed less than 0.54 ns, and a tunable bandwidth from 1.27 to 4.47 GHz is experimentally demonstrated. This fully tunable filter offers significant potential in future radar and next-generation wireless communication applications.

Absorptive reconfigurable bandstop filter with ultra-wide frequency tuning range using distributed lossy resonators

Abstract An absorptive reconfigurable bandstop filter (BSF) with compact size and ultra-wide frequency tuning range using distributed lossy resonators is presented. In each reconfigurable bandstop resonator, a varactor and a PIN diode are utilized as the control and absorption devices. When the PIN diodes are in off and on states, the upper and lower frequency tuning ranges of stopbands can be obtained, respectively. Therefore, the ultra-wide total frequency tuning range which is the combination of the upper and lower frequency tuning ranges can be realized. Meanwhile, the stopband frequency and bandwidth tuning can be independently controlled by bias voltages. The resistances in the varactors and PIN diodes can dissipate the electromagnetic power and thus result in absorptive stopband without using extra absorptive circuits. The stopband suppression level and stopband absorption ratio are proportional to the number of distributed lossy resonators. For demonstration, an absorptive reconfigurable BSF prototype using six pairs of distributed lossy resonators is designed and fabricated. The measured total frequency tuning range is 3.03–6.39 GHz (71%) with the suppression level of 20 dB, while the frequency tuning range with the suppression level of 10 dB is 2.04–6.39 GHz (103%).

Widely and fast tunable external cavity laser on the thin film lithium niobate platform

We develop an integrated external cavity laser with a broad wavelength tuning range and a fast switching speed on thin film lithium niobate (TFLN) platform. By butt coupling an InP-based optical gain chip with a TFLN external cavity chip, a hybrid lithium niobate/III-V tunable laser with a wavelength switching speed of 18 ns is achieved. Furthermore, using a cascaded external cavity filter composed of three micro-ring resonators (MRRs), the laser features an ultra-wide wavelength tuning range of 96 nm across the C + L + U bands, which is the greatest value known for tunable lasers integrated on TFLN. The maximum laser output power is 0.98 mW, with a measured side mode suppression ratio (SMSR) of better than 52 dB. The laser we developed is critical in applications such as optical sensors and wavelength routed optical switch.© 2023 xxxxxxxx. Hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Coherent Coupling between Phonons, Magnons, and Photons

Mechanical degrees of freedom, which have often been overlooked in various quantum systems, have been studied for applications ranging from quantum information processing to sensing. Here, we develop a hybrid platform consisting of a magnomechanical cavity and an optomechanical cavity, which are coherently coupled by the straightway physical contact. The phonons in the system can be manipulated either with the magnetostrictive interaction or optically through the radiation pressure. Together with mechanical state preparation and sensitive readout, we demonstrate the microwave-to-optical conversion with an ultrawide tuning range up to 3GHz. In addition, we observe a mechanical motion interference effect, in which the optically driven mechanical motion is canceled by the microwave-driven coherent motion. Manipulating mechanical oscillators with equal facility through both magnonic and photonic channels enables new architectures for signal transduction between the optical, microwave, mechanical, and magnetic fields.

Ultra-Widely Tunable Acousto-Optic Add-Drop Filter Based on Acoustically-Induced Polarization Conversion of Single Mode Fiber

An ultra-widely tunable acousto-optic add-drop filter is proposed and demonstrated based on the acoustically-induced polarization conversion of cladding-etched single-mode fiber, which covers wavelengths from 1081 nm to 1582 nm with a tuning band larger than 500 nm. The constructed filter has reconfigurable band-pass and band-rejection filtering characteristics, and obtains the advantages of ultra-wide wavelength tuning range, fast tuning speed, simple fabrication and zero frequency shift. It has potential applications in the fields of WDM communication, ultra-wide tunable laser, signal processing, swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) and wideband spectroscopy.

Carbon Nanocoils/Carbon Foam as the Dynamically Frequency‐Tunable Microwave Absorbers with an Ultrawide Tuning Range and Absorption Bandwidth

AbstractThe absorption frequency of conventional microwave absorbing materials (MAMs) is hardly tuned in operando, while such dynamic frequency regulation of MAMs is of great significance to meet the high demands of modern radars and intelligent electron devices. Here, an ingenious frequency‐tuning strategy by means of the pressure variations is developed by fabricating highly compressible carbon nanocoils/carbon foam (CNCs/CF) as a dynamically frequency‐tunable microwave absorber. Through adjusting the compression strain, the absorption bandwidth of CNCs/CF can be precisely tuned from S‐band (2−4 GHz) to Ku‐band (12−18 GHz). The adjustable effective absorption bandwidth is as wide as 15.4 GHz, which covers 96% of the entire microwave frequency. Under 10% compression strain, CNCs/CF shows an attractive bandwidth of 9.0 GHz and a strong reflection loss of −64.6 dB. Furthermore, the CNCs/CF also exhibit a good thermal insulation, strong hydrophobicity, and strain‐sensitive conductivity, endowing them with fascinating functions of heat insulation and self‐cleaning. The method of utilizing an external pressure to dynamically adjust the absorption frequencies of CNCs/CF is demonstrated for the first time, which opens an avenue for the applications of dynamically frequency‐tunable MAMs with an ultrawide adjusting range and absorption bandwidth.

Nanomechanical Resonators: Toward Atomic Scale.

The quest for realizing and manipulating ever smaller man-made movable structures and dynamical machines has spurred tremendous endeavors, led to important discoveries, and inspired researchers to venture to previously unexplored grounds. Scientific feats and technological milestones of miniaturization of mechanical structures have been widely accomplished by advances in machining and sculpturing ever shrinking features out of bulk materials such as silicon. With the flourishing multidisciplinary field of low-dimensional nanomaterials, including one-dimensional (1D) nanowires/nanotubes and two-dimensional (2D) atomic layers such as graphene/phosphorene, growing interests and sustained effort have been devoted to creating mechanical devices toward the ultimate limit of miniaturization─genuinely down to the molecular or even atomic scale. These ultrasmall movable structures, particularly nanomechanical resonators that exploit the vibratory motion in these 1D and 2D nano-to-atomic-scale structures, offer exceptional device-level attributes, such as ultralow mass, ultrawide frequency tuning range, broad dynamic range, and ultralow power consumption, thus holding strong promises for both fundamental studies and engineering applications. In this Review, we offer a comprehensive overview and summary of this vibrant field, present the state-of-the-art devices and evaluate their specifications and performance, outline important achievements, and postulate future directions for studying these miniscule yet intriguing molecular-scale machines.

Proposal for collinear integrated acousto-optic tunable filters featuring ultrawide tuning ranges and multi-band operations.

Integrated optical tunable filters are key components for a wide spectrum of applications, including optical communications and interconnects, spectral analysis, and tunable light sources, among others. Compared with their thermo-optic counterparts, integrated acousto-optic (AO) tunable filters provide a unique approach to achieve superior performance, including ultrawide continuous tuning ranges of hundreds of nm, low power consumption of sub-mW and fast tuning speed of sub-µs. Based on suspended one-dimensional (1D) AO waveguides in the collinear configuration, we propose and theoretically investigate an innovative family of integrated AO tunable filters (AOTFs) on thin-film lithium niobate. The AO waveguides perform as tunable wavelength-selective narrow-band polarization rotators, where highly efficient conversion between co-propagating TE0 and TM0 modes is enabled by the torsional acoustic A1 mode, which can be selectively excited by a novel antisymmetric wavefront interdigital transducer. Furthermore, we systematically and quantitatively explore the possibilities of exciting modulated acoustic waves, which contain multiple frequency components, along the AO waveguide to achieve independently reconfigurable multi-band operations, with tunable time-variant spectral shapes. By incorporating a complete set of ultrawide-band polarization-handling components, we have proposed and theoretically investigated several representative monolithic AOTF configurations, featuring different arrangements of single or cascaded identical AO waveguides. One of the present AOTF designs exhibits a theoretical linewidth of ∼8 nm (∼4 nm), a sidelobe suppression ratio of ∼75 dB, and theoretically no excess loss at the center wavelength of 1550 nm (1310 nm), with an ultrawide tuning range of 1.25-1.65 µm (from O-band to L-band), a fast tuning speed of 0.14 µs, and a low power consumption of a few mW.

Single-sideband microwave-to-optical conversion in high-Q ferrimagnetic microspheres

Coherent conversion of microwave and optical photons can significantly expand the capabilities of information processing and communications systems. Here, we experimentally demonstrate the microwave-to-optical frequency conversion in a magneto-optical whispering gallery mode microcavity. By applying a magnetic field parallel to the microsphere equator, the intracavity optical field will be modulated when the magnon is excited by the microwave drive, leading to a microwave-to-optical conversion via the magnetic Stokes and anti-Stokes scattering processes. The observed single-sideband conversion phenomenon indicates a nontrivial optical photon–magnon interaction mechanism derived from the magnon that induced both the frequency shift and modulated coupling rate of optical modes. In addition, we demonstrate the single-sideband frequency conversion with an ultrawide tuning range up to 2.5 GHz, showing its great potential in microwave-to-optical conversion.

Ultra-wide frequency tuning range for optical properties in coaxial quantum well driven by intense laser field

A new approach for controlling intersubband transitions and optical properties of coaxial cylindrical quantum well is proposed. Considering the correct dressing effect for the confinement potential, the new ultra-wide tuning mechanism is based on the variation of quasibound states with the intensity of long-wavelength laser field. By means of the finite difference method, the results provide a new explanation for the anticrossing of energy levels and exhibit great potential for ultra-wide frequency tunability (ranging from terahertz to the mid-infrared region) of the optical absorption coefficient and refractive index changes by modulating the laser parameters and barrier thickness.

A Compact Transformer-Based Fractional-N ADPLL in 10-nm FinFET CMOS

In this article, we introduce a fractional-N all-digital phase-locked loop (ADPLL) architecture based on a single LC-tank, featuring an ultra-wide tuning range (TR) and optimized for ultra-low area in 10-nm FinFET CMOS. Underpinned by excellent switches in the FinFET technology, a high turn-on/off capacitance ratio of LC-tank switched capacitors, in addition to an adjustable magnetic coupling technique, yields almost an octave TR from 10.8 to 19.3GHz. A new method to compensate for the tracking-bank resolution can maintain its quantization noise level over this wide TR. A new scheme is adopted to overcome the metastability resolution problem in a fractional-N ADPLL operation. A low-complexity TDC gain estimator reduces the digital core area by progressive averaging and time-division multiplexing. Among the published fractional-N PLLs with an area smaller than 0.1mm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> , this work achieves an rms jitter of 725fs in an internal fractional-N mode of ADPLL's phase detector (2.7-4.825GHz) yielding the best overall jitter figure-of-merit (FOM) of -232dB. This topology features small area (0.034mm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> ), wide TR (56.5%) and good supply noise rejection (1.8%/V), resulting in FOMs with normalized TR (FOM <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">T</sub> ) of -247dB, and normalized TR and area (FOM <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">TA</sub> ) of -262dB.

Step‐controllable RF MEMS tunable capacitor with ultra‐wide tuning range using netted metal membrane

In this Letter, step-controllable radio frequency (RF) micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) tunable capacitor with ultra-wide tuning range using netted membrane structure has newly proposed, fabricated, and characterised for highly miniaturised and reconfigurable RF devices and systems applications. The proposed tunable capacitor could step-wise increase the capacitance by introducing a few slits on the movable top membrane with a netted structure. The fabricated tunable capacitor exhibited 2.38–20.04 pF of tuning range and 146 (off-state) and 28 (full contacted-state) of quality factors at 1 GHz, respectively.

A wide tuning range, low noise oscillator with FoM of -188 dBc/Hz in 45 nm CMOS

A wide tuning range, low phase noise oscillator with 3 stage differential configuration is presented. GPDK 45 nm CMOS Technology is selected for the design and simulation of the proposed circuit, under power supply impediment of 1.1 V. Proposed delay cell features ultra wide tuning range as it utilizes dual control voltages (Vc1 and Vc2), enabling large current to flow in the circuit. As frequency of oscillation has linear proportionality with the bias current, this oscillator generates frequencies from 534 MHz to 18.56 GHz. The proposed circuit occupies chip area of 102.87μm2. This circuit offers power consumption of 1.13 mWatt and phase noise of −108.61 dBc/Hz (10 MHz offset frequency) at 5.82 GHz oscillation frequency. Performance of the proposed circuit is evaluated on various temperature, supply voltage and process corners. Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) profile is also measured through simulation. Because of wide frequency spectrum, low phase noise, small area and low power budget, proposed circuit can be utilized in various power electronic applications, medical equipments, communication and navigation systems.

A Fully Integrated 0.27-THz Injection-Locked Frequency Synthesizer With Frequency-Tracking Loop in 65-nm CMOS

A fully integrated sub-terahertz (sub-THz) frequency synthesizer is proposed cascading a radio frequency subsampling phase-locked loop (SS-PLL) with millimeter-wave injection-locked frequency multipliers (ILFMs) and a sub-THz mixer for frequency extension. Enhanced third-harmonic and fourth-harmonic-extraction techniques are proposed for the ILFMs with different multiplication ratios. In addition, a frequency-tracking loop (FTL) with automatic frequency and amplitude calibration is embedded for the ILFMs. Finally, a distributed bias technique is employed to improve the linearity of the wideband magnetic-tuning sub-THz oscillator. Designed in a 65-nm CMOS process, the proposed prototype achieves an ultra-wide frequency tuning range from 61.2 to 100.8, 122.4 to 136.8, and 198.5 to 273.6 GHz with a phase noise at 1-MHz offset from -79.3 to -95.4 dBc/Hz and an integrated jitter from 124 to 159 fs over the tuning range. The synthesizer occupies a core area of 0.58 mm2 and measures an output power of -11 dBm at 211.4 GHz with 49.5 mW, corresponding to a dc-to-radio frequency (RF) efficiency of 0.16%, an FoM from -171.4 to -177.7 dBc/Hz, and FoMT from -177 to -190.5 dBc/Hz.

Ring-Resonator Based Widely-Tunable Narrow-Linewidth Si/InP Integrated Lasers

This paper presents recent results on widely-tunable narrow-linewidth semiconductor lasers using a ring-resonator based mirror as the extended cavity. Two generations of lasers on the heterogeneous Si/InP photonic platform are presented. The first-generation lasers, with a total footprint smaller than 0.81 mm2, showed an intrinsic linewidth of ∼2 kHz over a 40 nm wavelength tuning range across C+L bands. The second-generation lasers using ultra-low loss silicon waveguides and a novel cavity design achieved an intrinsic linewidth below 220 Hz. The lasers also possess an ultrawide wavelength tuning range of 110 nm across three optical communication bands (S+C+L). These are records among all fully integrated semiconductor lasers reported in the literature.

Experimental demonstration of a single silicon ring resonator with an ultra-wide FSR and tuning range.

We present an experimental realization of a pseudo single-mode silicon ring resonator with an ultra-wide free spectral range and tuning range. The device is a single microring resonator with a tunable reflector integrated inside. The reflector is designed to have zero reflection for only one resonance of the ring, while all other resonances will suffer strong reflection. Given that the reflection inside a ring resonator leads to resonance splitting and degradation of the extinction ratio (ER), we obtain a ring resonator where only a single resonance has a large ER, while all others have a very low ER. The large ER resonance can be continuously tuned using metal heaters to achieve a broad tuning range over 55nm with 16mW of power injected into the phase shifter.

Generation of a square pulse with ultra-wide tuning range in a passively mode-locked Yb-doped fiber laser

We have experimentally demonstrated a square pulse in a passively mode-locked Yb-doped fiber ring laser operating in the dissipative soliton resonance (DSR) region based on the nonlinear polarization rotation technique. In our experiment, a 1.5-km long single-mode fiber (SMF) is inserted into the cavity to increase the cavity length. The total cavity is 1501.8m. With increasing pump power, the pulse duration can be tuned from 209.8ns to 812.4ns without wave-breaking, and the maximum output single pulse energy is 42.34nJ. To the best of our knowledge, this is the widest pulse in any Yb-doped mode-locked fiber laser. Moreover, the relationship between pulse width and cavity length is investigated. When the total cavity length is decreased to 1001.8m and 501.8m, the tuning range of square pulse is 372.4ns (from 58.6ns to 431ns) and 138ns (from 26ns to 164ns), respectively, and the maximum output single pulse energy is 13.85nJ and 8.75nJ, respectively.

Design and Optimization of Differential Ring Oscillator for IR-UWB Applications in 0.18 μm CMOS Technology

This study presents a two-stage ring voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) for use in impulse-radio ultra-wideband (IR-UWB) applications. A systematic and efficient graphical optimization method was employed to find the optimal dimensions of the VCO which give a best performance. A good agreement was observed between the desired specifications and simulation results with regard to the optimum component size of the VCO circuit. The operation range of the VCO was extended to cover an ultra-wide tuning range of 176.6%. The phase noise was [Formula: see text]107.1[Formula: see text]dBc/Hz at 10[Formula: see text]MHz offset frequency from a carrier frequency of 4[Formula: see text]GHz. The power consumption of VCO was 7.41[Formula: see text]mW from a 1.8[Formula: see text]V supply voltage. A large tuning range, low power, and appropriate phase noise were obtained with the optimum components size obtained through the optimization method.

Ultra-wide tuning single channel filter based on one-dimensional photonic crystal with an air cavity**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 61575138, 61307069, 51205273), and the Top Young Academic Leaders and the Outstanding Innovative Teams of Higher Learning Institutions of Shanxi.

By inserting an air cavity into a one-dimensional photonic crystal of LiF/GaSb, a tunable filter covering the whole visible range is proposed. Following consideration of the dispersion of the materials, through modulating the thickness of the air cavity, we demonstrate that a single resonant peak can shift from 416.1 to 667.3 nm in the band gap at normal incidence by means of the transfer matrix method. The research also shows that the transmittance of the channel can be maximized when the number of periodic LiF/GaSb layers on one side of the air defect layer is equal to that of the other side. When adding a period to both sides respectively, the full width at half maximum of the defect mode is reduced by one order of magnitude. This structure will provide a promising approach to fabricate practical tunable filters in the visible region with ultra-wide tuning range.