Photonic chip-based low-noise microwave oscillator

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Kudelin, Igor; Groman, William; Ji, Qing-Xin; Guo, Joel; Kelleher, Megan L.; Lee, Dahyeon; Nakamura, Takuma; Mclemore, Charles A.; Shirmohammadi, Pedram; Hanifi, Samin; Cheng, Haotian; Jin, Naijun; Wu, Lue; Halladay, Samuel; Luo, Yizhi; Dai, Zhaowei; Jin, Warren; Bai, Junwu; Liu, Yifan; Zhang, Wei; Xiang, Chao; Chang, Lin; Iltchenko, Vladimir; Miller, Owen; Matsko, Andrey; Bowers, Steven M.; Rakich, Peter T.; Campbell, Joe C.; Bowers, John E.; Vahala, Kerry J.; Quinlan, Franklyn; Diddams, Scott A.
• 署名单位: National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) - USA; University of Colorado System; University of Colorado Boulder; California Institute of Technology; University of California System; University of California Santa Barbara; University of Virginia; Yale University; National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA); NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL); California Institute of Technology; University of Colorado System; University of Colorado Boulder
• 刊物名称: Nature
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0028-4428
• DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07058-z
• 发表日期: 2024-03-21
• 关键词: residual phase noise; frequency comb; laser; generation; cavity; stabilization; microcombs; conversion

摘要

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-Perot 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. We leverage advances in integrated photonics to generate low-noise microwaves with an optical frequency division architecture that can be low power and chip integrated.