Nanowerk March 19, 2024 Current implementations of optical frequency division (OFD) require multiple lasers, with space- and energy-consuming optical stabilization and electronic feedback components, resulting in device footprints incompatible with integration into a compact and robust photonic platform. A team of researchers in the US (industry, Columbia University) demonstrated all-optical OFD on a photonic chip by synchronizing two distinct dynamical states of Kerr microresonators pumped by a single continuous-wave laser. The inherent stability of the terahertz beat frequency was transferred to a microwave frequency of a Kerr soliton comb, and synchronized via a coupling waveguide without the need for electronic […]
Tag Archives: Microwave generation
Photonic microwave generation using on-chip optical frequency combs
Science Daily April 20, 2020 Soliton microcombs can now be built using CMOS-compatible photonic integrated circuits. However, they operate with repetition rates significantly beyond those that conventional electronics can detect, preventing their use in microwave photonics. Researchers in Switzerland have demonstrated soliton microcombs operating in two widely employed microwave bands, the X-band (~10 GHz, for radar) and the K-band (~20 GHz, for 5G). Driven by a low noise fibre laser, these devices produce more than 300 frequency lines within the 3 dB bandwidth, and generate microwave signals with phase noise levels comparable to modern electronic microwave oscillators. The results establish integrated microcombs as […]